… heaven must receive [Jesus] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath

spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Love Must Show Itself In Action By Edward Bender (SC)

Love is not just a word that you say, such as “I love “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what
you!” Love is defined by your actions that involve the is good; love one another [including your mate] with
person or persons to whom you say, “I love you!” In brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing hon-
simple language “love” is an action word! The Bible or” (Romans 12:9-10, RSV). “…any other command-
states it like this: “Little children, let us not love in word ment, is summed up in this sentence, “You shall love
or speech but in deed and in truth. By this we shall your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a
know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts neighbor [mate] ...” (Romans 13:9-10, RSV).
before him” (1 John 3:18-19, RSV). Although I do not
recommend paraphrase versions of the Bible, I have Am I able to say as Paul did? “ have been crucified with
chosen the following as a commentary of these two Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
verses. “My children, let us not love merely in theory or me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in
in words—let us love in sincerity and in practice! If we the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
live like this, we shall know that we are children of the me” (Galatians 2:20, RSV).
truth and can reassure ourselves in the sight of
God” (1 John 3:18-19, Phillips). Love is not a word to 2. What does it mean “passed out of death into life”?
be just spoken. It is a word that requires action on the
part of the person speaking. Love is never expressed Obviously we do not have eternal life today! “We know
by words alone! that we have passed out of death into life, because we
love the brethren. He who does not love abides in
1. What does it mean to “not love with theory or words”? death” (1 John 3:14, RSV). We know we have passed
from death unto life when we rose from the waters of
If your mate, parent, child told you that he/she loved baptism and chose to walk with him daily. “And you he
you, however, never expressed it in actual actions, how made alive, when you were dead through the trespass-
would that make you feel? I believe John expressed it es and sins in which you once walked, following the
best when he states the following. “But if anyone has course of this world, following the prince of the power
the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
closes his heart against him, how does God’s love disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the
abide in him?” (1 John 3:17, RSV). Are we aware of passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and
those around us who are in need, especially during this mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like
unusual time in which we are living? Have I offered to the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out
help someone recently? Am I being a loving mate, par- of the great love with which he loved us, even when we
ent, neighbor, friend or friend in Christ? were dead through our trespasses, made us alive to-
(Continued on page 2)

Articles Other Information

p1 ...... Love Must Show Itself In Action p11 .... Church of God Archives Project
p3 ...... God’s Financial Principles vs. Worldly p12 .... Websites to Explore
Financial Principles p12 .... How to Submit Articles
p4 ...... Jesus Christ is not a Human Person p12 .... The Restitution Herald Core Doctrines
p7 ...... Genetics
p8 ...... The Kingdom of God
p10 .... Sound Doctrine
p11 .... God’s Book

Volume 110, Number 1 Jan-Mar 2021

THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

Love Must Show Itself In Action (cont.)

(Continued from page 1) through him. He who believes in him is not condemned;
gether with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and he who does not believe is condemned already, be-
raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the cause he has not believed in the name of the only Son
heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:1-6, RSV). of God” (John 3:16-18, RSV).

Our lives changed when we accepted Jesus as our Lord Jesus was obedient to the command of His Father and
and Savior and decided to accept this new life through set us an example that is very much appreciated, be-
the waters of baptism and to walk with him daily. The cause without it we would be without hope in this age.
Scriptures puts it this way. “For as many of you as were “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us;
baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But
RSV). “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in
the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s
right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are love abide in him?” (1 John 3:16-17, RSV). “In this the
above, not on things that are on earth. For you have love of God was made manifest among us, that God
died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live
who is our life appears, then you also will appear with through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but
him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4, RSV). that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation
[appeasing G2435, SCO] for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10,
“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawless- RSV).
ness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He ap-
peared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is “This is my commandment, that you love one another
no sin. No one who remains in Him sins continually; no as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this,
one who sins continually has seen Him or knows that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my
Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:12-14,
one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as RSV).
He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the dev-
il; for the devil has been sinning from the begin- Conclusion
ning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to de-
stroy the works of the devil. No one who has been born We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, “I
[begotten, ASV] of God practices sin, because His seed love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who
remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because does not love his brother whom he has seen, can-
he has been born [begotten, ASV] of God. By this not love God whom he has not seen. And this com-
the children of God and the children of the devil are ob- mandment we have from him, that he who loves God
vious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is should love his brother also” (1 John 4:19-20, RSV). “A
not of God, nor the one who does not love new commandment I give to you, that you love one an-
his brother and sister” (1 John 3:4-10, NASB). other; even as I have loved you, that you also love one
another. By this all men will know that you are my disci-
The real test of our love comes when we love those ples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35,
who do not love us. “If you love those who love you, RSV).
what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those
who love them. And if you do good to those who do Am I able to meet the Scriptural test showing that I
good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners have God’s love in me? “If you love me, you will keep
do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he
hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever,
lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know
return; and your reward will be great, and you will be him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you” (John
sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful 14:15-17, RSV). I will make an effort to grow in his love!
and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is mer-
ciful” (Luke 6:32-36, RSV).

3. “By this [example] we know love”

God gave us the extreme example by giving us His only

begotten son as a sacrifice for our sins. “For God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal THE RESTITUTION HERALD
life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to con- VOLUME 110 NUMBER 1—Jan-Mar 2021
Proofreader: Robert Jones
demn the world, but that the world might be saved Address editorial correspondence to: Restitution Herald,
2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

God’s Financial Principles vs. Worldly Financial Principles*

By Nicole Wu (OH)
Often commonly accepted or widespread societal be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty
practices do not fall in line with scriptural teachings. of riches but on God, who richly provides us with
The world of finance and the way that believers everything to enjoy”. Scripture makes it clear that is
should handle their money is no different. There are it not by our own power, but by God’s, that we are
numerous examples of this misalignment, but, in the blessed with wealth.
interest of brevity, we will discuss three commonly
held worldly financial beliefs and offer a more bibli- The third worldly belief is that money is the key to
cal attitude toward each one. success and happiness. In our consumer society we
are inundated with advertisements telling us to buy
The first worldly belief is that debt is unavoidable, products that will make us younger, thinner, strong-
and even necessary. In 2019 US student loan debt er, prettier, better—happier. Purchasing all of those
totaled a staggering $1.41 trillion with 14.4% of products that we would need to be happy obviously
adults having one or more educational loans and requires a lot of cash. Social media and television
each borrower averaging $35,359 in loans.1 Accord- floods us with images of the lavish and seemingly
ing to a recent article from the Urban Institute, mort- perfect lives of the super-rich celebrities. The socie-
gage debt has peaked, and US total mortgage debt ty message is simple: if you have money, you will
totals $10.36 trillion with 62.9% of homeowners have a happy life.
having a mortgage.2 The average American house-
hold owes around $6,124 in credit card debt and Once again, scripture begs to differ. Eccles. 5:10
has a combined average debt of around $137,729.3 (ESV) warns that, “He who loves money will not be
With the prevalence and extent of those numbers, satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with
it’s no wonder most Americans accept debt as just his income.” Greed cannot ever be satisfied, and
a part of life. there is no worldly currency that can bring peace
and happiness. Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) says, “Keep
Scripture teaches otherwise. Paul wrote to “owe no your life free from the love of money, and be content
one anything, except to love each other” (Rom. 13:8, with what you have for, for he has said, ‘I will never
NASB) and Prov. 22:26 (ESV) says, “Be not one of leave you nor forsake you.’” Isaiah 58:11 (ESV) talks
those who give pledges, but who put up security for about how God will guide us continually and satisfy
debts.” Also, Prov. 22:7 (NIV) says “the borrower is our desires—we “shall be like a watered garden, like
slave to the lender.” As servants of Jesus, being en- a spring of water whose waters do not fail.” The sat-
slaved to money is unacceptable. He warns in Matt. isfaction and joy we have in God are eternal and
6:24 (NIV) that “no one can serve two masters… you separate from our worldly circumstances.
cannot serve both God and money”. Believers
should therefore try their hardest to be debt free. In conclusion, believers should be cautious with
their attitude and actions towards money. 1 Timothy
The second worldly belief is that wealth is earned 6:10 (ESV) says that the “love of money is a root of
through human effort and not because of divine all kinds of evils” so we need to exercise caution in
blessing. In America especially, despite many claim- our pursuit of livelihoods. It is not through our own
ing the USA to be a “Christian nation,” there is a ten- efforts that we succeed, but through the providence
dency towards idolizing the “self-made man” since and blessing of God. Philippians 4:19 (ESV) says
the term was coined by Henry Clay in 1832.4 Each that “God will supply every need according to his
year the “Forbes 400” publishes a list of the top 400 riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” so while we should
wealthiest Americans. People like Jeff Bezos and handle money well, we should not become too fo-
Elon Musk are extolled for their innovation, dedica- cused on the pursuit of wealth and trust in God to
tion, and the hard work they did to achieve their provide for us. God is the source of true content-
massive wealth. ment, and no matter how much wealth we amass,
without the love of God we are truly poor.
This is not the correct attitude to have. In 1 Corinthi- 1
ans Paul talks about how, despite his working hard- Investopedia, Student Loan Debt:2019 Statistics and Outlook, Daniel
Kurt, 15, 2019.
er than any of the other apostles, it was not his ef- 2
Urban Institute, Mortgage Debt Has Peaked. Michael Neal, August 20,
forts “but the grace of God” that allowed his 2019.
3
Nerdwallet, 2019 American Household Credit Card Debt Study, Erin El
apostleship and his message to be accepted. He Issa, December 2, 2019.
understood that he could only succeed because of 4
Wikipedia. Used to “describe individuals whose success lay within the
God’s blessing and according to God’s will. Deut. individuals themselves, not with outside conditions.” Henry Clay coined
the term on Feb. 2, 1832 when he described Benjamin Franklin as a “self
8:18 (NIV) plainly states, “remember the Lord your -made man”.
God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce
wealth”. 1 Tim. 6:17-18 (ESV) warns the rich “not to *This was written for a Personal Finance class at Atlanta Bible College.

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

“Jesus Christ is not a Human Person”: the Anhypostasis of Jesus Christ

By Bill Schlegel (TN)
Summary: Enter the theological term anhypostasis. The
Trinitarian and “deity of Christ” theologians claim that Greek word hypostasis had come to refer in the
since “God the Son" took on a human nature, Jesus was early church discussions to what we’d call per-
not a human person. Otherwise Jesus Christ would be sonhood—whether in the Trinity or in the two-
two persons - one divine person and one human person. natured person of Jesus—and so the negating
Trinitarian theologians call the non-human personhood of “an-” prefix was added to signify that, consid-
Jesus Christ the anhypostasis (“without personhood, im- ered on its own (apart from his divinity), Jesus’
personality”) and the divine personalizing of the human humanity is impersonal.”
nature with the divine person the enhypostasis. This arti-
cle examines the anhypostasis and enhypostasis theo- In other words, Jesus took a fully human nature,
ries from a biblical perspective and finds the theories to but he did not take a human person. Jesus can
be anti-Messiah. have a fully human nature without also taking a
pre-existing human personhood.1
Trinitarian creed and dogma:
Jesus Christ is not a human person. It was at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 that the Byz-
antine church tried to settle the issue on the dual nature
Jesus only has a human nature. of Jesus, the so-called “hypostatic union” of two natures
in one person. Nestorius, who maintained that Jesus had
I think if you had told me when I was a Trinitarian that two persons, one divine and one human, was con-
Christianity maintains that Jesus was not a human per- demned. The church insisted that the personhood of Je-
son, I would have said, “What do you mean I don’t believe sus was only one, the divine one.
that Jesus is a human person? Of course I do.” On this
essential question of who Jesus is, there is a disconnect It seems odd that the Chalcedon Council “confirmed with
between the theological academy and the average Chris- clarity,” but then “years of further discussion ensued”.
tian. The average Christian doesn’t think about the ramifi- Apparently, the issue of Christ’s two natures in one per-
cations of claiming “Jesus is God”, but the theologians son wasn’t so clear. It still isn’t.
have thought about it. Unfortunately, it seems rarely do
theologians venture into trying to explain the ramifica- Note the highlighted phrases in the above quote: “Jesus’
tions of “deity of Christ” claims to average Christians. I humanity is impersonal” and “he did not take a human
believe that if more people are confronted with this foun- person”.
dational traditional church teaching, the non-human per-
sonhood of Jesus, they will question the whole “deity of Next, from a Catholic website, an article by Henry
Christ” claim. Karlson, God Became Man Without a Human Self
(Hypostasis)
Trinitarian testimony to the
non-human personhood of Jesus When looking at him (Jesus Christ), we see one
person, but when we discern who he is in that
The claim that Jesus is not a human person is not a person, we find he is one person with two na-
fringe claim for traditional Christianity, nor am I creating tures: God and human. This is where confusion
a straw man that no one really believes. Rather, the non- and debate springs up.
human personhood of Jesus Christ is essential to deity
of Christ doctrine. Below are five “deity of Christ” theolo- This, for many of us, seems rather odd. The per-
gians that explain that the anhypostasis, the non-human fect human is not a human person; the perfect
personhood of Jesus, is what traditional Christianity be- human has no specific human self.”2
lieves. The emphases in the quotes below are mine.
The third witness is Philip Schaff (1819 –1893). Schaff
First is an article by David Matthis, a pastor and executive was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologi-
editor of desiringgod.org (of John Piper), from his article an and ecclesiastical historian who spent most of his
called, Anhypostasis: What Kind of Flesh Did Jesus Take? adult life living and teaching in seminaries in the United
States. In his monumental work called the History of the
The famous all-church Council of Chalcedon in Christian Church, Schaff wrote (reference links are to the
451 confirmed with clarity that Jesus is “one online version):3
person” with “two natures” (full divinity and full
humanity), but after the council, years of further “The anhypostasia, impersonality, or, to speak
discussion ensued. How is it that one person more accurately, the enhypostasia, of the human
can have two natures? When the Son of God nature of Christ - This is a difficult point, but a
took on humanity, did that not mean that he was necessary link in the orthodox doctrine of the
taking to his divine person a second (human) one God-Man; for otherwise we must have two
person as part of that humanity? Is he not two persons in Christ, and, after the incarnation, a
persons, if he as two natures?” fourth person, and that a human, in the divine
Trinity.” 1653
(Continued on page 5)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

“Jesus Christ is not a Human Person” (cont.)

(Continued from page 4) means “in”, so enhypostasis could be translated some-
thing like “in-personhood”. The idea is that the pre-
“The center of personal life in the God-Man re- existent divine 2nd person of the Trinity put his person-
sides unquestionably in the Logos, who was hood in human nature. The article called What are enhy-
from eternity the second person in the Godhead, postasis and anhypostasis? from the “Got Questions”
and could not lose his personality. He united website explains:
himself, as has been already observed, not with
a human person, but with human nature.” 1653 Christ is ‘anhypostatic’ in that Christ’s human
nature is not personal in itself, but also
“And the human nature of Christ had no inde- ‘enhypostatic’ in that it is personalised by being
pendent personality of its own, besides the di- united to the eternal person who is the second
vine;” 1654 person of the Trinity. This makes his hypostasis
or personhood fully human and fully divine.
Schaff correctly noted that for Trinitarian, or deity of
Christ, doctrine to be correct, Jesus could not have been Jesus did not seize another human and appro-
a human person, otherwise there would in fact be four priate control of that human’s nature. We could
persons in the Trinity: 1) God the Father, 2) God the Son, say that the humanity that He put on was imper-
3) God the Spirit, and 4) Jesus the human person. There- sonal.
fore, as church dogma insists, the Logos or second per-
son in the Godhead united only with human nature “not Jesus added to His divine nature and person,
with a human person”. In other words, there is no human and what was added was a real human nature,
person in the divine Trinity. not a human person.

Our fourth witness is fairly well-known Christian apolo- Christ’s genuine human nature is in addition to
gist, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig is Professor of Phi- His genuine divine nature, and He remains one
losophy at Houston Baptist University and Research Pro- unified person, not two.
fessor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology. His
web page is ReasonableFaith.org. Sometimes words seem to make the issue more
complicated than it needs to be…If the words
Dr. Craig explains in a video interview: enhypostasis and anhypostasis help us to un-
derstand and explain the incarnation to others,
What the council of Chalcedon did was set down then they are useful. If they only complicate the
as it were boundary markers that enabled theo- issue, we can communicate the same concept
logians to know what was the safe channel with- this way: “2 natures; 1 person.”
in which they could move for orthodox Christo-
logical speculation. It did not solve the question The five witnesses above make it clear that the non-
of the incarnation, but it did set down bounda- human personhood of Jesus Christ is an essential doc-
ries to the right and the left that you must not trine for a deity of Christ believer. Jesus can not be a hu-
cross. And the watchword of Chalcedon is that man person, otherwise he would be two persons, one
you must neither divide the person nor confuse divine and one human. “There is not a human person.
the natures. You must not divide the person of There is no man Jesus of Nazareth who is a human per-
Christ into two persons. There was not a divine son”.
person and a human person, the man Jesus.
Biblical response to the
... in Christ we have one person with two com- non-human personhood of Jesus Christ
plete natures... Secondly, the Logos is the ration-
al mind of Jesus, so that Jesus Christ is the sec- 1. Like the Trinity itself, the claim that Jesus is not a hu-
ond person of the Trinity. Therefore, there is only man person is nowhere described in the Bible. There is no
one person in Christ. There is not a human per- explanation, no discussion, no confusion, nor opposition
son. There is no man Jesus of Nazareth who is a expressed in the Bible to concepts like the non-human
human person. You have a divine person who personhood (anhypostasis), or the personalizing of hu-
has a human nature.4 man nature (enhypostasis) by a divine being. The Bible
knows no God-man, no “dual nature” of Jesus the Messi-
Dr. Craig’s statements speak clearly enough: ah. These are all philosophical concepts created centu-
ries after Jesus, totally foreign to the Bible. In contrast,
“There is not a human person. There is no man the Bible says plainly that Jesus is a man distinct from
Jesus of Nazareth who is a human person…” God:

Our fifth testimony comes from a conservative Christian “…but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you
website called “Got Questions.” The Trinitarian solution the truth that I heard from God” (John 8:40).
to the non-human personhood (the anhypostasis) of Je-
sus is called the enhypostasis. The Greek prefix en (Continued on page 6)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

Jesus Christ is not a Human Person (cont.)

(Continued from page 5) 2. that God or one person of God has come in the
flesh as Jesus Christ
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also 3. that God or one person of God took on human
the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21). flesh
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between 4. that Jesus Christ came from some pre-existent
God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” (1 Tim. 2:5). state into the flesh
5. that God added human flesh to his nature, sub-
2. Denigrating the man Christ Jesus. “Deity of Christ” sequently being composed of two natures
Christology is a denigration of who the man Jesus Christ 6. that God or one person of God has taken on a
is, and of what he has done for us. The man, the human non-personal human nature.
person, Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth “loved us and
gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to Such claims add to, change, and contradict the scripture.
God” (Eph. 5:2, 25; Gal. 1:4; 2:20; 1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14; Note how the general editor of the Desiring God web
Rev. 1:5; 5:6; 5:12). If Jesus is not a human person, no page changes Romans 5:8:
human person gave himself up for us, died and was
raised from the dead. "He has demonstrated his love for us in that while we
were still sinners, he took our nature to his one person
3. Eliminating the man Christ Jesus and even his abstract and died for us” (Romans 5:8, sic).5
“human nature”. “Deity of Christ” Christology not only
denigrates the man Christ Jesus, but attempts to elimi- The real Romans 5:8 (NASB) says: “But God shows his
nate the human person who has been exalted to the right love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died
hand of Almighty God (Psa. 8; 110:1; Acts 2:33; 5:31; for us.”
7:56; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 9:24;
10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22; Rev. 5:7, etc.). "deceiver and anti-Messiah"
If anything, “deity of Christ” and Trinitarian dogma has The deity of Christ interpretations involve deception and
only an abstract “human nature” raised from the dead (re- are anti-Messiah, against Messiah. “For many deceivers
incarnated?) in heaven at God’s right hand. However, by have gone out into the world, men who will not
Trinitarian dogma definition, even the abstract “human acknowledge the coming of Jesus the Messiah in the
nature” gets eliminated. Otherwise their definition of God flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the anti-christ” (2
would be three persons in two essences – 1) a divine John 7, NASB).
essence and 2) the human nature or essence. Or, as Dr.
Schaff mentioned (see above), if Jesus is a real human The prefix anti- can mean against, so anti-christ means
person – the “Trinitarian” god would be four persons in that a person or a doctrine is against or opposes the
two essences. Christ. Also, anti- can mean “instead of, in place of.” The
Trinitarian “deity of Christ” claim is against the biblical
All “deity of Christ” interpretations of biblical passages Christ by proposing another Christ in the place of the real
end up being a denial that Jesus is a human person. If biblical Jesus Christ. A God-man Christ is not the biblical
someone interprets a passage, for instance, from the human Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
gospel of John, Philippians 2, Colossians 1, or Hebrews 1
as evidence for the “deity of Christ”, then these passages The non-human person Trinitarian anti-christ is a fake,
are not about the human person Jesus of Nazareth. To imposter Christ. The Trinitarian “deity of Christ God-man”
the Trinitarian, the God-person of Philippians 2 humbled is “another Jesus, another gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4;
himself - the human person Jesus did nothing since he Galatians 1:6-7).
never existed.

A spirit not of God About the author:

Bill Schlegel taught Bible history, geography and Hebrew
I suggest that the deity of Christ interpretations are a in Israel for over three decades. He is the author of the
“spirit not of God”. “By this you know the spirit of God: Satellite Bible Atlas. Through Bible study, Bill came to
every spirit which confesses that Jesus the Messiah has understand that the LORD is one, and that Jesus is the
come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not LORD’s human Messiah. Bill’s podcasts at One God Re-
confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the port and blogs. He is married to Stephanie. They currently
antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the live in Tennessee with the two youngest of their five chil-
world already.” (1 John 4:2-3). dren.
1 John 4:2-3 does NOT say: “Every spirit is of God that One God Report Podcast of this presentation can be
confesses… heard here. Video presentation here. (links work online).
1. that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and yet
is fully God (Continued on page 7)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

Jesus Christ is not a Human Person (cont) Genetics

By Wally Winner (SC)
(Continued from page 6)
End Notes:
1
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/anhypostasis-what-
kind-of-flesh-did-jesus-take So, God created man in his own image; he created him in the image
of God; he created them male and female (Genesis 1:27, ESV).
2
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/10/
jesus-christ-god-son-without-human-person He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he
placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to
3 guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24, ESV).
History of the Christian Church. Thanks to Greg Logan for
pointing out the Schaff references. It did not take long for the descendants of Adam and Eve to try and
acquire through their own efforts what had been sealed away from
4 them in the Garden of Eden. The search for immortality was an im-
Interview, a Defense of Neo-Appollinariansim https://
mediate desire. While it was still fresh in their minds, humanity be-
youtu.be/3o9b_r0ReCk?t=1146 See especially minutes gan looking for a replacement for the tree of life. Norse mythology
19:25-20:10. had the mighty ash. Egypt had the tamarisk tree. Greece has the
olive tree. Asia Minor had the pine tree. There were sacred groves in
5
What is the Hypostatic Union, Mathis, Desiring God Minis- India, Germany, and with the Celts. The oracle of Jupiter had an or-
tries, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the- ange grove.
hypostatic-union
When a substitute for the tree of life proved “fruitless,” attention was
directed to other possibilities. Magic potions, fountain of youths and
holy grails were among the surrogates sought.

Failing in the immortality quest, the attention was directed to pro-

longing life through potions, poultices, and elixirs. The forerunners to
the medical disciplines. Of course, it did take (and continues to take,
check the lawsuits) a lot of trial and error. For example, here are
some “remedies” that once were popular:

Bloodletting. A practice for thousands of years. It was thought sick-

ness was a result of “bad blood”. Doctors used it for everything from
sore throat to a plague. George Washington had about six pints of
blood drawn from him on what became his deathbed.

Trepanation. This the practice of boring holes in the skull as a means

of curing illnesses. It dates back 7000 years. Surprisingly, evidence
Genetics by Wally Winner—Bibliography shows that many of the patients survived the surgery.

Mercury. It was used as an ointment by Persians, Greeks, and Chi-

15 Most Bizarre Medical Treatments Ever - CBS News - nese. Some healers suggested consuming brews of mercury, sulfur,
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/15-most-bizarre- and arsenic. The patient would gain eternal life and the ability to
medical-treatments-ever walk on water. Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang died after ingesting
mercury pills designed to make him immortal.
Entangled Magazine, Volume 10 March 2018 The Church Animal Dung Ointments. Egyptian physicians used human and animal
of DNA, Anthony Patch excrement as a cure-all remedy for diseases and injuries. While this
remedy led to tetanus and other infections, research shows the mi-
Entangled Magazine, Volume 43 December 2020 Multiple croflora found in some types of animal dung contain antibiotic sub-
articles stances.

Cannibal Cures. This so-called “corpse medicine” of human flesh,

The Prophecy Watcher October 2019 The Twisted History blood and bone was used for persistent headaches, muscle cramps
of the Genetic War, Gary Stearman or stomach ulcers. Romans believed that the blood of fallen gladia-
tors had medicinal powers. Blood drunk from the deceased’s skull
The Prophecy Watcher May 2020 Bible Prophecy and was particularly potent.
COVID-19, Gary Stearman Dead Mouse Paste. Mashed mouse with other ingredients was used
as a poultice. A remedy for warts was a half mouse applied to the
Crone, Billy. Hybrids, Super Soldiers & the Coming Genetic wart. Fried or baked mice could help with whooping cough, measles,
Apocalypse Vol.1 Get A Life Ministries smallpox, and bedwetting. A mouse running across a bed might
cause bedwetting.
Crone, Billy. Hybrids, Super Soldiers & the Coming Genetic
Hemiglossectomy. The best way to cure a stutter. Cut off half of the
Apocalypse Vol.2 Get A Life Ministries. tongue. You couldn’t curse the doctor and often bled to death.

New Dawn Magazine Volume 8 No. 5 Debt, Vaccines & Crocodile Dung. It was used as a contraceptive. You don’t want to
Food as a Weapon, Aaron Dykes how. If crocodile dung was not handy, elephant dung was just as
effective.
Gene Wars, Charles Piller and Keith R. Yamamoto Copy-
right 1988, Beech Tree Books, William Morrow, New York (Continued on page 9)

7
THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

The Kingdom of God: Presenting Real Solutions to Real Problems

By Talon Paul (IN)

I have absolutely loved the kingdom of God message ev- Unfortunately, our presentation of the message some-
er since I first encountered it in class at Atlanta Bible Col- times gets in the way, and it falls on deaf ears when we
lege. I had grown up like most people in America: we lack an understanding of their situation. Too often we are
know God exists and have a very vague hope of eternal preaching the right message to the wrong crowd. We are
life in heaven when we die. Unfortunately, that “hope” offering bread to the thirsty and a hammer to remove a
never seemed very exciting to me and never motivated screw. The older gentleman who has just suffered the
me to change my life. In fact, a high school friend once loss of his wife of 50 years does not need to hear about
told me that hell sounded much better to him, because he how there will be absolute peace among God’s animals
didn’t want to sit on a cloud playing a harp all day long; at (Isaiah 11:6), but that his wife will live again (John 11:25-
the time, I agreed with him! Why on earth would I ever 26). The young woman who is abusing her prescription
want to go into the sky and play an instrument for all eter- medication in college to continue making her grades on
nity? Is there something more that I was missing? time does not need a message about how Jesus is going
to be seated on David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7:12-
What’s amazing about the true kingdom of God message 16). Instead, she needs to hear about how Jesus offers
is how much is involved with it, like a rich tapestry. Not her a rest unmatched by anything else, where she can no
only is there a promise of eternal life, but so many more longer feel anxious about her deadlines (Matthew 11:28-
layers of amazing promises that are just not available in 30). The foster child that has moved from house to
the typical “heaven” presentation that is in most church- house does not need to hear about how war will never
es. The kingdom of God message, that Jesus will reign again be a reality for God’s creation (Isaiah 2:4). Howev-
on the throne of David over a renewed earth for all eterni- er, he does need to know that God has adopted him into
ty with his saints in complete paradise, has absolutely the eternal family, something this child has been search-
changed my life, and I have seen it change others as well. ing for through many years of rejection (Romans 8:14-
Thankfully, this message is so complex and beautiful that 16). Although everything mentioned above will come true
it can speak to every human being that we come across. in the kingdom of God, it will not communicate well to
different audiences that need to hear something for their
The Bible made much use of the multi-layered nature of situation. The challenge for us as believers is to find the
this gospel message, and it is presented in various ways correct way to communicate the kingdom of God to the
to different audiences. In Mark 5, a demon-possessed specific situation in front of us.
man encounters Jesus and is finally freed from his de-
monic, spiritual oppression that plagued him for so many Believers also struggle on a personal level, and most of
years. To this man, the gospel meant freedom from his the time it is because we too are focusing on a wrong
suffering. In John 11, as Mary and Martha are mourning aspect of the kingdom of God for our own situation. The
the death of their brother Lazarus, Jesus comes to them promises of the kingdom of God can lose their flavor for
and announces that he is the resurrection and the life, believers if they are not presented in the most appropri-
giving them hope of the restored life to come. To them, ate situations. The former soldier who dedicated his life
the gospel meant resurrection and seeing their brother to Christ overseas, but still struggles with PTSD from the
alive again. In Galatians 3, Paul presents the gospel to a horrors of war, needs to find peace in knowing that war
group of believing Jews and Gentiles who had a difficult will finally be abolished forever (Isaiah 2:4). The single,
time getting along. However, he shows that the gospel Christian mother of three young children needs to hear
means the unity between the two groups, as they both that she is not alone in her struggles, but that Jesus is
have become children of Abraham. To them, the gospel available to assist her along the way until he returns
meant a new, unified family where everyone could experi- (Hebrews 2:17-18). The pastor who is struggling to make
ence God’s blessings and peace. hard decisions for his/her congregation during the COVID
-19 pandemic needs to know that his/her work is not
The good news of the kingdom of God still speaks vol- done in vain, and will be rewarded for the service shown
umes today, to all the various needs that we find around to God’s people (Hebrews 6:10).
us. The true beauty of this message is that it never grows
old or stale. It is always alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). My prayer is that, as new situations find us in all walks of
This means that the individual struggling with COVID-19, life, that we would be able to respond appropriately with
cancer, or any other serious illness has great reason to the same kingdom message that Jesus had. Although
rejoice, since all those illnesses will finally be healed for- the way we communicate it may look different, it will
ever (Isaiah 35:5-6). Justice will finally come to those have its fulfillment in the same event when Jesus returns.
who have been victims of sexual assault, terrorist at- I hope that you will find comfort in Jesus’ message today
tacks, and oppression from various institutions (Isaiah for yourself and for those around you. May God bless
9:6-7). Those dealing with addictions of all kinds can your efforts in bringing the kingdom light to those in dark-
hope in finally being free from their spiritual oppression ness.
forever (Isaiah 61:1-2). Everyone, regardless of their eth-
nicity, gender, or background has reason to believe in the
coming kingdom of God.

8
THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

Genetics (cont)

(Continued from page 7)

Clysters. It is an enema usually of warm water, salt, baking soda or Enter the science of epigenetics— the study of changes in organ-
soap. Some physicians used coffee, herbs, honey or chamomile or isms caused by modification of gene expression rather than altera-
anything else from the kitchen table. Louis XIV of France is said to tion of the genetic code. Epigenetics is way to turn on and off
have more than 2,000 enemas. genes – good DNA and faulty DNA itself in more controlled fashion.

Powder of Sympathy. It was made of earthworms, pigs’ brains, iron The preliminary goal was to cut out and fix glitches in your genes
oxide, bits from corpses ground into a powder. It was used for rapi- that threaten your health. For example, think of someone who was
er wounds. born with a gene mistake that gave them a rare illness. Or a gene
change that happens later in life and puts you at risk for cancer.
Moldy Bread. It was used to disinfect cuts all the way back to Egypt. Let’s simply try and get rid of diseases. A noble idea that is ongo-
Louis Pasteur did get the most from it with the development of ing.
penicillin.
A nefarious use has been aggressively advancing. To make a
Vin Mariani. An Italian chemist named Angelo Mariani put together “superhuman” mutation that has been advertised, in all places, the
a tonic of red wine and coca leaves. Coca leaves have cocaine. The movies. If you watched Captain America and are familiar with Mar-
drink became a hit with Thomas Edison, Queen Victoria, the czar of vel comic books X Men series, you have seen where this is going.
Russia, Pope Saint Pius X and Pope Leo XIII. It was the inspiration Where do you think they get their material for movies?
for John S. Pemberton’s drink called Coca-Cola.
“Decoding the human genome sequence is the most significant
Paraffin. In the 19th century it was injected as way to smooth out undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all
wrinkles. It was also injected into women’s breasts as an augmen- of science. I believe that reading our blueprints, cataloging our own
tation. It fell out of favor fast. instruction book, will be judged by history as more significant than
even splitting the atom or going to the moon.” (Francis S. Collins
Farts in a Jar. Medical science in the Middle Ages dealing with the Director of the National Institute of Health [NIH])
Black Death surmised that “like cures like”. Doctors thought the
Black Death was caused by deadly vapors. What was needed was The inquiry goes beyond a pursuit for perfect health but for super
“therapeutic stink”. They captured flatulence in jar. When the pesti- wellbeing, super intelligence, and super longevity.
lence appeared, you opened a jar and took a whiff. Not very effec-
tive, since the plague killed 30 to 60 percent of Europe’s population. It only takes a 1% change in the DNA make up to transform the
human identity. What is produced is no longer human and has no
Then the work of Rosalind Franklin, James Watson and Francis reversal. With the mutations, we are headed for a genetic apoca-
Crick discovered the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953. This lypse.
gave rise to the modern field of molecular biology. It was by under-
standing DNA’s double-helix form that science was able to begin Having appealed to human greed in the initiation and proliferation
unravelling the many mysteries of genetic code. of the blockchain architecture, this same technique has been ex-
tended to the acquisition of our DNA/RNA through the offering of a
While there is a very positive side for humanity in this discovery, the new cryptocurrency.
negative side was developing just as fast.
“The promise of the new biological and genetic technologies for The system now takes in what makes us all human. Here are some
cures and super vaccines for our most ancient and persistent ill- of the implications: *Loss of privacy and identity *Denial of access
nesses has a dark side. The discoveries of more efficient biopro- to and rationing of healthcare services *Increases in healthcare
cesses that come from DNA research have opened the door to their insurance premiums *Denial of rights of procreation *Forced abor-
provision by the military, leading to entirely new possibilities and tion *Euthanasia due to age and mental health *Incarceration and
scales of production of deadly toxins, viruses and bacteria.” (Gene Institutionalization *Travel restrictions and denial ·Sequestration to
Wars, Charles Piller and Keith R. Yamamoto, Copyright 1988, Beech urban living environments ·Education restrictions and structured
Tree Books, William Morrow, New York) learning *Employment restrictions, denial and termination
*Restrictions on acquisition of basic necessities of life *Overall
Piller and Yamamoto saw the possibilities of a type of germ war- control of populations
fare that disguised itself as a virus. The vaccines then would be
used to alter the human genome. “Science and technology strive to change and build upon God’s
original design. These attempts come by way of GMO foods, inocu-
The initial result of the new information was to do DNA splicing. lations and various drugs, air-borne nanoparticles, to name but a
DNA splicing is when a section of genes or DNA, are removed from few methods of administration. They’ve been successful in that
an organism and supplanted into another. they are able to construct a synthetic third DNA strand, which can
attach to God’s original design.” (Anthony Patch Entangled January
An example is the use in agricultural biotechnology in develop- 2019)
ing drought and herbicide resistant crops. Through genetic engi-
neering, scientists have been able to introduce traits into existing There are a several ethical questions for the church. Among them
genes to make crops resistant to drought and herbicides. are: can altered human genes be redeemed? Can such a mutation
make a decision for Christ? Genetics don’t need a savior. Do we let
While it has been used widely to produce better flowers, grains, science save us?
fruits and vegetables, scientists saw a larger possibility. What if we
can genetically alter the human code to extract imperfections from Maybe with enough experimentation, trial and error and a Franken-
Down’s syndrome to weak eyesight? stein touch we can piece together and resurrect a being.

The science would permit the DNA splicing of humans. However, it

soon became apparent that there was a large drawback. In the
slicing and dicing of the DNA to eradicate human weaknesses, it
was not exact enough. So, when some of the bad was removed,
some of the good was taken, too.

9
THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

”
THEY STILL SPEAK
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when
God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4

Sound Doctrine
By W. T. Roberts
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of dead know not anything” (Eccl. 9:5b). There are only two
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuf- sets of conclusions to be drawn from the entire book of
fering and doctrine. For the time will come when God—those of God and those of man.
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves We know sound doctrine is positive because Paul urged
teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn Timothy to preach sound doctrine. Anything contrary is
away their ears from the truth, and shall be unsound doctrine and naturally is condemned by God.
turned unto fables." (KJV) When we refuse sound doctrine, we automatically em-
brace unsound doctrine. The lowly Nazarene said, “In
The word “sound,” as it appears in the foregoing text (2 vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the com-
Tim. 4:2-4), is an adjective. It appears about fifteen times mandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). From the apostle Paul
in the Authorized Version of our Bible. It is defined thus: we read: “Which all are to perish with the using; after the
“Perfect of its kind, founded in truth, correct in commandments and doctrines of men” (Col. 2:22).
views” (Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary).
What are the doctrines and commandments of men? The
With this concise definition before us, we can see that things they teach and preach that cannot be sustained or
“the word” of verse two, becomes “sound doctrine” of supported by the word of truth. Their preaching is there-
verse three. They are used interchangeably. We can see fore vain, ineffectual, empty, and unreal. We can see the
that “sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13), “sound doctrine” (Titus ultimate result of vain worship, which is that of obeying
1:9), “sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13), “sound doc- the commandments of men. This is brought about insidi-
trine” (Titus 2:1), “sound speech” (Titus 2:8), “words of ously by those who try to improve God’s plan. You will
truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), “thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and remember that Naaman was sure that the rivers of Da-
“the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), all merge or mascus were much better than the waters of Israel, but
centralize in the “sound doctrine” of the text. he still had to dip himself seven times in Jordan before
he could be clean. Elisha was exacting when he told
It naturally follows that sound doctrine embraces the en- Naaman to dip seven times in the river Jordan. God was
tire plan of redemption that God has given us for this age. exacting when He refused to cure Naaman’s leprosy until
The plan of salvation, the establishment of the kingdom, he had dipped the seventh time (2 Kings 5:1-14).
the nature of man, the inheritance of the saints, punish-
ment of the wicked, in fact, all Bible subjects are em- God was exacting when He made a plan whereby man
braced in the “sound doctrine” of the text. This is proof might be justified or condemned. He has been very ex-
that sound doctrine is the affirmative of these truths. plicit in that we follow to the letter the plan laid down.
Since each affirmative has its negative, whether ex- There are those who often tell us that parts of the gospel
pressed or implied, we may naturally assume that the plan are not essential. By such preaching we make God’s
negative would be unsound doctrine. This is basically word of none effect that we might keep our traditions.
correct. (Mark 7:7-13). Jesus said this is vain worship. We must
follow either the sound doctrine of God or the doctrine
However, let us see how comprehensively the Spirit in- and commandments of men, for Jesus said, “No man can
spired Paul to give us the negative in the text. Let us serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24). When we embrace one
quote it from another translation. “The time will come we automatically repudiate the other. There is no middle
when people decline to be taught sound doctrine, they ground, no substitute for God’s Word!
will accumulate teachers to suit themselves and tickle
their own fancies, they will give up listening to the truth, Unsound doctrine is a substitute for the word of God. I
and turn to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4, Moff.). The Diaglott listened to a radio program on which, at the close of the
reads thus: “There will be a time when they will not en- service, the speaker said, “If you are out there in radio-
dure wholesome instruction, but will accumulate teach- land and want to be saved, just lay your hand on the ra-
ers for themselves, according to their own inordinate de- dio, and we will pray for you and you can be saved right
sires, tickling their ear, and they will indeed turn away there in the comfort of your own home. Jesus is able to
from hearing of the truth, and be turned aside to fa- save you anywhere.” This sounds good, but there is not a
bles” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4). “Fables” is defined: To narrate ficti- “thus saith the Lord” for a statement of this kind. Nor is
tiously or falsely; compose or tell fables or myths, fabri- there a promise in God’s Word whereby the prayers of the
cate, lie. It is not teachers who have itching ears, but minister will save an alien sinner. This is not sound doc-
hearers who are demanding fables. Paul said they would. trine. We have heard ministers of our own ask, in assist-
The late Dwight L. Moody said, “Some time you will read ing a candidate to make confession, “Do you accept
in the paper that D. L. Moody is dead. It will be a lie! I will Christ as your personal Saviour? And do you want to be
be more alive than I have ever been.” Holy writ says, “The (Continued on page 11)

10
THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

Sound Doctrine (cont.) God’s Book

By Alva G. Huffer
(Continued from page 10)
baptized?” This does not conform with Acts 8:37. One “The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man,
young writer said, “I took Christ as my personal Saviour.” the way of salvation. Its doctrines are holy; its precepts
Another said, “I feel that God, for Christ’s sake has par- are binding; its records are true. Read it to be wise; be-
doned my sins.” The eunuch said, “Here is water; what lieve it to be safe; and practice it to be holy. It contains
doth hinder me to be baptized? and Philip said, If thou be- light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to
lievest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff,
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, the Christian’s
God” (Acts 8:37). Another writer said, “Sister Doe took charter. Christ is its great object, our good its design,
Christ as her personal Saviour. I had the pleasure of bury- and the redemption of man its end. It should fill the
ing her in Christian baptism.” Peter said, Baptism is for the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.”—Selected.
remission of sins (Acts 2:38).
The Bible is the story of salvation through Jesus, God’s
One is not a Christian until sins are remitted. One does not son. Take him out of the Bible and little is left. A genu-
become a Christian until after baptism. It is easy for us ine Christian is a Bible Christian. Someone has said
who have the truth, to be drawn away gradually from the concerning the Bible that one should: know it in his
truth and to turn to fables. head; stow it in his heart; show it in his life; and sow it
in the world.
We urge all to contend earnestly “for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). Paul said, “I know God’s book is the book for the troubled world. The Bi-
this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in ble contains a solution for every problem that man has
among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves developed. Someday mankind will realize that the only
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away workable plan for the world is God’s blueprint for hu-
disciples after them” (Acts 20:29, 30). “Perverse” as used manity as revealed in His word. In times like these,
in the above text is defined as follows: Willfully wrong or men need something to cling to; something durable to
erring; unreasonable. build their lives upon. The world needs the Bible!

Let us pray earnestly that we are not among those who Restitution Herald, Vol. 42 No. 2 (pp. 9-10)
spare not the flock by speaking perverse, unsound things.
The devil presents something that is so near right that er-
ror does not appear immediately. A number of little things
like we have presented can, sooner or later, draw us apart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc-
trines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having our con-
science seared with a hot iron. CHURCH OF GOD
Restitution Herald, Vol. 42 No.10 (pp. 9-10) ARCHIVES PROJECT
To read more articles like this, visit coggc.org and We are scanning our collection to make it available
click on Publications to the world, and we are seeking material to add
to the collection and fill in the gaps.
Other articles in Volume 42 include:
If you have books, tracts, articles, sermons, writing,
The Household of Faith by C.E. Randall publications, or other material related to the
Two classes of people are mentioned in Galatians 6:10, Church of God, we would love to hear from you.
“all men” and “the household of faith. A trend in religious
thinking today seeks to make all men the sons of God and These are treasures that should not be lost.
God the Father of all.”
Please email
The Forward Look by R. H. Judd [email protected]
“In all the important things pertaining to life, where mature
and responsible actions are required, God places the re-
sponsibility where it belongs—on the people, not upon the Support this project by giving to
children.“
“Digital Library (Archives)” at:
The Spirit Giveth Life by Walter Wiggins
“The number one need of our church is a spiritual awaken-
ing, both in the church and in the ministers. This need is www.coggc.org
being expressed by our people in requests at prayer meet-
ings and in answer to direct questions.“

11
THE RESTITUTION HERALD Jan-Mar 2021

Atlanta Bible College

Church of God General Conference
2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400
McDonough, GA 30253

Address Service Requested

The Restitution Herald is owned and published by Church of God General Conference, 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253.
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CHURCH OF GOD ONLINE The Restitution Herald teaches:

1. the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the
earth, with Christ as King of kings, and the immor-
Church of God General Conference talized saints as joint-heirs with Him in the govern-
coggc.org ment of the nations,
2. the restoration of Israel as a nation,
Atlanta Bible College 3. the literal resurrection of the dead,
atlantabiblecollege.com 4. the immortalization of the righteous,
5. the final destruction of the wicked,
Lord’s Harvest International 6. and life only through Christ.
lhicog.com
ABC Korean Extension Also a thorough belief in:
abcke.org 1. repentance,
2. immersion in the name of Jesus Christ for the re-
OTHER SITES TO EXPLORE mission of sins, as prerequisites of the forgiveness
21stcr.org (Dan Gill) of sins,
trinities.org (Dr. Dale Tuggy) 3. and a holy life as essential to salvation.
restitutio.org (Sean Finnegan)
SeekGrowLove.com (COG writers) We believe and teach the “restitution of all
scatteredbrethren.org (Robin Todd)
thegodofjesus.com (Kegan Chandler)
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth
KOGmissions.com (Tracy Zhykhovich) of all His holy prophets since the world be-
focusonthekingdom.org (Anthony Buzzard) gan.” (Acts 3:21)

12
 … heaven must receive [Jesus] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith By Dennis Sharp (SC)

The Foundation for What We Believe Shem, from which word Semite is derived. Joshua
24:2 says that Abraham’s father, Terah, “worshipped
The people who were responsible for the formation other gods” making Abraham’s faith in the one true
of our movement believed it was critical that we God all the more impressive. Our understanding of
should be called “The Church of God of the Abra- the significance of Abraham, and, therefore our Abra-
hamic Faith.” Why? Understanding the answer to hamic Faith, starts in Genesis 12:
that question allows us to understand God and his
plan for all people. Indeed, we cannot have a full un- “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country,
derstanding of the scriptures if we do not under- your people and your father’s household and go to
stand who Abraham was, his relationship to God, the land I will show you. I will make you into a great
and our relationship to him. We should desperately nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name
want to know about a man whom scripture says was great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those
“God’s friend”, “the father of us all”, and the “heir of who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
the world.” and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
So Abram left, as the Lord had told him. Abram was
The founders of the Abrahamic Faith understood seventy-five years old when he set out from
that Abraham was an excellent starting point in our Haran” (Gen. 12:1-4).
faith journey. The very first verse of the New Testa-
ment speaks of Abraham and tells us that Jesus the We learn much about God, Abraham, and God’s plan
Messiah is “the son of Abraham.” The Old Testa- for his people from this initial encounter. First, the
ment promise of the land to Abraham is the begin- words “The Lord had said to Abram” informs us that
ning of the gospel message of the kingdom of God, God chooses Abraham. He chooses Abraham to ini-
which then becomes the central teaching of Jesus in tiate the plan of restoration. The first 12 chapters of
the New Testament (Luke 4:43). Also, following the Genesis cover approximately 2000 years. What has
example of Abraham, we are monotheistic – we wor- happened during that time? We have seen the diso-
ship only one God. There is much we can learn by bedience of Adam and Eve, the flood that was a re-
understanding the life of Abraham. sult of the corruption and violence on the earth, and
the thwarting of the plans of a proud and egotistical
Our first encounter with Abraham (or, Abram before people to build a Tower of Babel. God’s call of
God changed his name) is in Genesis 11:26. There Abram is an excellent example of how the one true
we learn that he is a descendant of Noah’s son (Continued on page 2)

Articles Other Information

p1 ...... Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith p6 ...... Church of God Archives Project
p4 ...... We Are Members in Particular p12 .... Websites to Explore
p7 ...... Glory Be to God’s Messiah p12 .... How to Submit Articles
p8 ...... Fear of the Lord p12 .... The Restitution Herald Advocates...
p10 .... Children’s Page
p11 .... Why Weepest Thou?

Volume 110, Number 2 April-June 2021

THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith (cont.)

(Continued from page 1) could be counted. Go, walk through the length and
God works with his people. God reveals himself in breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.’” (Gen.
the history and events of his people. “The Old Testa- 13:14-17)
ment is not the story of Israel’s discovery of God, but
the story of God’s revelation of himself to Israel. God Twice in this passage, God speaks of “the land” and
initiates revelation and individuals respond.”1 He that he is giving it to Abraham and his offspring for-
works intimately with his people through his proph- ever. As referenced earlier, the promise of the land to
ets and angels, who are his representatives. This dif- Abraham is the beginning of the gospel message of
ferentiates the one true God from the pagan gods the kingdom of God and the central of teaching of
who were personifications of the forces of nature Jesus in the New Testament (Luke 4:43). This is
and idols made by the hands of men. “Israel believed where our Abrahamic Faith starts, and it is a mes-
that her God both could and did control the events of sage, often ignored, that is revealed throughout the
history, that in them he might reveal his righteous entire Bible. In Genesis, God tells man to fill the earth,
judgement and saving power. Here is the sharpest subdue it and rule over it. God tells Abraham that he
break with paganism imaginable.”2 The call and cov- is giving him the land of Canaan as an everlasting
enant made to Abraham by God is an example of his possession (Gen. 17:8), to him and also to his de-
intervention into history and giving direction to future scendants after him. From the very beginning it is
events. “In the Old Testament, the greatest act by clear that the future of the faithful is on a glorified
which God made himself known is the Exodus (Exod. earth and not in heaven. Jesus teaches us to pray,
6:6-7). The acts of God reveal both his love and his “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it
judgement, his mercy and his wrath. Since God is in- is in heaven.” Here again, the teaching is that the
visible, he chose to reveal his nature through tangible kingdom is on the earth, on the land given to Abra-
events.”3 God’s action of choosing Abraham sets in ham and his descendants as an everlasting posses-
motion an eternal plan for his people. sion that will be the eternal home of the faithful. Our
understanding of God’s covenant promise of the land
Second, Abraham is told to “leave your country, your is essential to our understanding of the Abrahamic
people, and your father’s household.” Abraham is Faith.
told by God to “break ties,” and he does so obedient-
ly. He is called to leave the certainty of a life he So significant are the promises God made to Abra-
knows for the uncertainty of a life unknown to him. ham that the word “covenant” appears 13 times in
How many of us could just up and leave our families, the 21 verses of Genesis 17. In this chapter, God
homes, and communities and go to a place we didn’t changes Abraham’s name from Abram (meaning
know? Abraham’s faith is an example for us, and it is high father) to Abraham (meaning father of a multi-
the reason we strive to be of the faith of Abraham, or tude). He establishes his covenant with Abraham as
the Abrahamic Faith. an everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:19) and gives the
land to Abraham and his descendants as an everlast-
Third, God tells Abraham, “I will make you into a ing possession (Gen. 13:15; 15:18; 17:7-8). “The He-
great nation.” The word “great” here is more than a brew Bible describes this promised land as an actual
mere adjective. From Abraham’s descendants will piece of earthly real estate with specific geograph-
come kings who will possess a kingdom, a throne, ical boundaries (Gen. 15:18-21; Num. 34:2-12; Josh.
and a dynasty that will be established forever (Gen. 15:1-12; Ezek. 47:13-20; etc.).”4 The promised land,
13:15; 17:6). This is the promise of a great nation the land of Canaan, is not just a spiritual concept.
that will ultimately be ruled by Abraham’s descend- God is the true owner of this land (Deut. 1:20, 25;
ant, Jesus the Messiah (II Sam. 7:16). 2:29), and he has given it to Abraham and the He-
brew people. When Jesus the Messiah returns, he
Fourth, God tells Abraham that “all peoples on earth will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem in this
will be blessed through you.” How will all people on promised land. He will be given authority over the
earth be blessed through Abraham? To answer this whole world, all nations, people, and every language
question, we must examine further dialogue between (Dan. 7:13-14) and his saints (believers) will rule with
God and Abraham. him (I Cor. 6:2; Rev. 2:26-27; II Tim. 2:12). This land
promised to Abraham and his descendants is the
“The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from foundation from which comes the future kingdom of
him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look God on the earth.
north and south, east and west. All the land that you
see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Jewish confes-
make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that sion of faith that God is one (Deut. 6:4), the Shema,
if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring (Continued on page 3)

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Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith (cont.)

(Continued from page 2) • James links all Christians to Abraham by

(which is quoted by Jesus in Mark 12:29) is fol- calling him “our ancestor Abraham”
lowed by a reference to the land. “When the Lord (James 2:21).
your God brings you into the land he swore to your • Abraham is the first person in the Bible to
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give bear the title “prophet” and is given the title
you…” (Deut. 6:10). Here these two great truths are “anointed one” (Gen. 20:7; Ps. 105:15).
spoken together, the understanding that God is one, • God’s own self-identification includes the
and the land he swore to Abraham. These teachings name of Abraham. “I am the God of your fa-
are the cornerstone of our Abrahamic Faith. ther, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6).
It would be almost impossible to overemphasize the
importance of Abraham in God’s plan for mankind. The Psalmist tells us that God will remember his
Given that it is often said that Abraham is of central covenant with Abraham forever. “He remembers his
importance to the three great religions: Christianity, covenant forever, the word he commanded for a
Judaism, and Islam, one must ask if his significance thousand generations, the covenant he made to
gets the proper teaching and attention it deserves. Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed
Let’s examine the person of Abraham further and it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting
why we choose to be identified “of the Abrahamic covenant: “to you I give the land of Canaan as the
Faith.” Consider the following: portion you will inherit’” (Psalms 105:8-11). Just as
almighty God has made, repeated, and vowed to re-
• Proof Abraham’s importance to the authors member this covenant forever, it demands that we
of scripture is the fact that he is mentioned do also.
230 times in our Bible, 160 times in the Old
Testament and 70 times in the New Testa- We will conclude this article in the next issue of the
ment. Restitution Herald where we will look at how
• Abraham is the ancestor from which the He- Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith continues to be
brew people sprang and the first person in well documented in the New Testament.
the Bible to be called a “Hebrew”
(Gen. 14:13). End Notes
• Abraham is the first great patriarch of an- 1. Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham – Jewish
cient Israel and a primary model of faithful- Roots of the Christian Faith, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-
ness for Christianity. lishing, 1989), p. 161
• All Jews trace their ancestry to Abraham as 2. John Bright, The Kingdom of God, (Abingdon Press,
1953), p. 25
father of the Hebrew nation. 3. Wilson, Our Father Abraham – Jewish Roots of the
Christian Faith, p. 161
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and 4. Wilson, Our Father Abraham – Jewish Roots of the
who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you Christian Faith, p. 260
were cut and to the quarry from which you were
hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah,
who gave you birth. When I called him, he was only THE RESTITUTION HERALD
one man, and I blessed him and made him many VOLUME 110 NUMBER 2—April-June 2021 ©2021
(Isa. 51:1-2).
Proofreader: Robert Jones
Address editorial correspondence to: RESTITUTION HERALD,
Notice here that Abraham is called “the rock.” God 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253
is also called “the rock” in Deuteronomy 32:3-4 and
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I Samuel 2:2. ence grants permission for any original article (not a reprint) to be
photocopied or duplicated for use without change, provided the
• The biblical phrase “our father Abraham” ex- material is distributed free and the copies indicate the name of the
publication and the name of Atlanta Bible College/Church of God
presses the family relationship every person General Conference, and our mailing address.
of faith has with Abraham. He is the father
of all of the faithful. The phrase “our father THE RESTITUTION HERALD is owned and published by the Church of
God General Conference, a nonprofit Christian corporation located
Abraham” is used by Jesus (John 8:53), Ste- at 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253. THE HER-
phen (Acts 7:2-3), and Paul (Romans 4:12, ALD is mailed four times a year.
16-17).
Authors and books are sometimes promoted in THE RESTITUTION
• Abraham receives the special recognition of HERALD. We believe these contain items of interest to our read-
being called “God’s friend” (II Chr. 20:7; ers. This does not necessarily mean they exactly reflect the state-
James 2:23). ment of faith on page 12.

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

We Are Members In Particular

By Tom Siderius (MI)
In the first quarter Restitution Herald, Nicole Wu wrote Christopher Hall in Christianity Today magazine in 2012
a wonderful article on the financial principles that Chris- wrote:
tians should follow in our lives, specifically our financial
plans. She provoked many thoughts with her article, Clearly, our experiences shape our reading of the Bible.
pointing us to our God as our sufficiency and strength in We are all wearing tinted glasses, lenses that help us to
time of fear and confusion in the world. see some things very clearly but distort our vision else-
where. Think, for instance, of the parable of the Prodigal
As the world wide Covid-19 pandemic continues, we as Son. When 100 North American students were asked to
Christians need to actively consider what our response read the parable and retell it, only six mentioned the fam-
should be. The current plan is to spend another 1.9 tril- ine the prodigal experiences away from home. In a word,
lion dollars on Covid help, but also a whole list of “needs” American readers tend to be "famine-forgetters," perhaps
that we should address. What are the great priorities of because most Americans simply have not experienced
our lives and faith? terrible famine. Compare the response of 50 Russian
readers to the very same parable: 42 out of 50 mentioned
Here’s some recent headlines with the stark realities of the famine. Why? The cultural history of famine in World
the world in our midst, headlines which have colored our War II has deeply embedded itself in the Russian con-
lives and thinking every day for 12 months or more. We sciousness, and this cultural lens influences what Rus-
think and pray, stay at home or work, but the uncertainty sian Christians see in a biblical text.
of the situation continues in our minds like the 24/7 feed
of world news. So, what is the true biblical perspective? God calls us to
a “We-centered” viewpoint.
Unemployment Claims Remain High as Millions Still Strug-
gle to Find Work 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NKJV) For as the body is one
and has many members, but all the members of that one
When Business as Usual Was Turned Upside Down body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For
U.S. unemployment claims down 19,000 yet still 4 times by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether
higher than pre-pandemic level Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been
made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is
Coronavirus pandemic ‘may cause famine of biblical pro- not one member but many.
portions’, UN food chief warns
Covid-19 could push 130 million people into starvation Paul gives the metaphor of our physical body being com-
posed of many parts and compares the functions to the
Jobless benefits for 1.2M New Yorkers are about to ex- body of Christ being built up of many members. Each has
pire. What's next? a particular function that God has called us to, just as the
Warning of famine, UN releases $100M to seven countries eye, ear, foot and hand are part pf the whole, but not the
same. We are baptized (gone from death to life) by gift of
Where do we go in our time of need? What should our grace by the holy spirit that all have received. When you
Christian responses be? confess the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that he
has been raised from the dead, you will be baptized into
When I was a much younger Christian and my children the body of Christ. Look at Romans 6.
were growing up, we memorized and sang a song from
the verse from King James Version Philippians 4:13. “I Romans 6:4-5 (NKJV) Therefore we were buried with Him
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. We through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised
sang the words and marched up and down, putting our from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
trust in the idea that whatever happens, we could over- should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been unit-
come it. We would bring out this verse like superman ed together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also
takes off his street clothes, and then with the superman shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.
suit on, go out to win every encounter with all forms of
evil and violence in the world. We thought of this verse as Titus 3:5-7 (NKJV) not by works of righteousness which
the bulletproof all-purpose application regardless of what we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
we faced in life. Financial trouble? I can do all things. through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the
Health issue? I can do all things. Family issue? I can do Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly
all things. through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justi-
fied by His grace, we should become heirs according to
But, is this really the biblical viewpoint? Do we read and the hope of eternal life.
study the Word with a “Me-centered” viewpoint? We look
for scriptures that seem to apply to our given situations, 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NKJV) Now you are the body of
and we see our Christian experiences from a personal Christ, and members individually.
viewpoint. We want the Bible to give us the answers to
our immediate situations that we feel apply to “Me”. What does this verse mean? Remember “Me-centric” or
“We-centric” thinking.
(Continued on page 5)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

We Are Members In Particular (cont.)

(Continued from page 4) centric” way of acting and believing. God has not called
us to be the “superman” of faith, but we as the body of
Jan Magiera, in her translation of this verse from the Ara- Christ to be Christ to the world together as this wonderful
maic Peshitta text, writes as “We are the body of Messiah body which we are all called to be part of.
and members in your place” (APNT). Members that are in
our place? What is my place? How does this translation Ephesians 3:14-20 (NKJV) For this reason I bow my
of the verse change your perspective? knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16
Continue in our reading in 1 Cor 12. that He would grant you, according to the riches of His
1 Corinthians 12:28-30 (NKJV) And God has appointed glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in
these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in
administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints
Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of mir- what is the width and length and depth and height 19 to
acles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that
tongues? Do all interpret? you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to
Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all
“God has appointed” is the first thing to look at. The Me- that we ask or think, according to the power that works in
centric viewpoint looks for what I think I should be cho- us.
sen for and be good at. What if we asked the question,
“What has God appointed me for in the church? To be a As we look at our calling in the body we see examples all
minister of Christ to it? Is my place to pastor? To teach? through the word of the different ministers of Christ.
To give? To serve physically or spiritually? Those that are apostles, that are encouragers, that are
teachers, those that do good works. Some minister heal-
Let’s go back to where we started from and look at Phil ing of body and heart to others, some are administrators
4:13 again. What about this translation of the verse? or do the physical tasks and projects that are needed. But
“I find strength for everything in Christ who strengthens each has a calling to a certain place in this wonderful
me” (Magiera from the Aramaic translation). body of Christ.

Philippians is a letter to the church there from Paul, prob- The sections of scripture that really stand out in this
ably as he is in Rome in prison. Epaphroditus brings a gift study bring two main perspectives: Our strength and
of money from the church there to Paul at Rome, and the power is in the body of Christ as members together. And
letter is really a “thank you” letter to them for the way that that we energize that strength with the giving that puts
they worked in the body of Christ to meet needs. The God first, opening the door to His help in our time of
whole section gives the perspective to the process that need.
Paul was emphasizing to the church there, as well as
gratitude for their love. With this idea in mind North Kent Bible Church made a
goal and challenge to go past our own concerns of our
Philippians 4:13-20 (NKJV) I can do all things through health, prosperity and money to look outward as a church
Christ who strengthens me. (“I find strength for every- body. The question asked was what would help us to
thing in Christ who strengthens me”) 14 Nevertheless gain God’s perspective in this situation? Even in the midst
you have done well that you shared in my distress. of the pandemic, our fellowship has actually been able to
15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning give more financially to the church, and has experienced
of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no a greater prosperity because of this.
church shared with me concerning giving and receiving
but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid So the challenge was to use this “We-centric” power for
once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the good in the body of Christ. The financial problems of the
gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. country and world will not be solved by more printing of
18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having re- money or borrowing in order to give ever bigger subsidy
ceived from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a payments to us or others. We cannot borrow our way to
sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well prosperity and health. This goes against all the principles
pleasing to God. 19 And my God shall supply all your of God’s instruction and scriptural knowledge. Giving to
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. others in their time of need, and to the growth of the min-
20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. istry will give God’s blessing to our lives and hearts. This
Amen. is not a governmental obligation, but a ministry that God
has called the body to do.
When we expand our reading, we see that the verses 4:13
and 4:19 stand in the midst of a section of the letter The challenge that we have started is to first put together
which deals with giving and the effects of the giving and enough money to materially help a specific church, or
the gift. When we give, both financially and physically, we churches, in Africa. The pandemic and worldwide finan-
are able to “open the windows of heaven” to be ready for cial woes are much greater there than here, and real fam-
any eventuality that we are faced with. This is a “We- (Continued on page 6)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

We Are Members In Particular (cont.)

(Continued from page 5) body as God has called you to be. Eph 3:20.
ine there is a great challenge. But the greater challenge is
the famine that comes from not having access to God’s What has God equipped you to do for the body of Christ?
Word and fellowship. This is the true famine which we What fellowship do you bring?
need to overcome. We gathered the money over a period
of weeks, and put together over $4000 for African mis- 1 Corinthians 12:27 (KJV) Now ye are the body of Christ,
sions. This will be used with the Martins’ help to give and members in particular.
some building money and ministry money to help the
works in Kenya and Malawi. We are all members in our place, the place that God has
put us! Be blessed and bless others in all we are able to
The other goal that NKBC has is to bring an awareness do as the body of Christ according to the grace of God.
and fellowship with the churches there by specifically
ministering and praying for one or two churches. We
want to connect their hearts and lives to our hearts and Glory Be to God’s Messiah (cont.)
lives as brothers and sisters in Christ. We believe that
God has called us to do this, and we need to prove that
His care and blessing of us here has the purpose of shar- (Continued from page 7)
ing to others the help and love that God has given us. By desire to worship and give glory to God motivate us to
focusing our hearts together we are able to make this glorify His Son. Jesus said it best shortly before his cruci-
fellowship become more alive in the body of believers at fixion: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glori-
North Kent Bible, and to give the African believers a point fied in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify
of fellowship with our church. Perhaps this could become him in himself, and glorify him at once” (John 13:31,32).
a ministry that other fellowships could follow to connect In a wonderful, poetic sense, Jesus was glorified through
the work here to the vibrant works of God on the other the humiliating crucifixion. The early church father, Origen
side of the earth. termed it as a “humble glory”. That same “humble glory”
also brought glory to God, as the world would soon find
The ministry of the Word here in the USA is important as out that Jesus truly was the Son of God.
well, and maybe the challenge for your church has a dif-
ferent focus to develop. What does all of this evidence suggest? We can see that
giving glory to Jesus is something that occurred through-
The other principle of giving we need to develop is that of out the New Testament. However, never did anyone try to
the multiplication of seed sown. The principles of seed glorify Jesus as God. It always occurred in the proper con-
and sowing for grain were an integral part of the lives of text. He is given glory as the Son of God. It’s my hope and
the people in the first-century church. Today it is not so prayer that all of these examples can help us find the
much a part of our thinking. proper balance of how much glory to give to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 9:10-11 (ASV) 10 And he that supplieth One last passage that we should all consider when giving
seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and Jesus glory is Revelation 5:9-14. It consists of a vision
multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of that John has of the heavenly host proclaiming praise and
your righteousness: 11 ye being enriched in everything glory to both God and His Messiah. What a marvelous
unto all liberality, which worketh through us thanksgiving vision that must have been to witness! In the midst of this
to God. beautiful vision, the heavenly host proclaim, “To him who
sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor
God supplies the seed to be sown, and as we harvest the and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13). I
grain, we have our seed multiplied in order to sow more long for the day, where we will be shouting of the glory
the next time. Prosperity is not a zero sum process where and might of God and His Messiah.
in order for me to prosper, then someone else must have
less. God’s prosperity that he gives to all the earth is
based on this growth of seed sown. When we have a
greater harvest, do not put it away in our barns for our CHURCH OF GOD ARCHIVES PROJECT
prosperity. But rather plant it to grow more grain for all As we are scanning our collection, we are seeking other
the church and the earth to share. material to add. If you have books, tracts, articles,
sermons, writing, or publications, related to the
Where in the body of Christ has the holy spirit led you to Church of God, please email us.
serve? What is the fellowship that we need to develop to
bring God’s love and care to all His people? These are treasures that should not be lost.

We can do all thigs in Christ as we are strengthened by Send email to: [email protected]
him. Phil 4:13. We have all our needs supplied from His
riches as we do His Word and will. Phil 4:19. God has giv- View the Digital Archives at:
en us all the precious promise of life here and life eternal. www.coggc.org
Our lives need to become the ministry and blessing in the

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

Glory Be to God’s Messiah

By Kyle McClain (OH)
Imagine a time and place where man has a perfect rela- of Man?” (John 9:35). The blind man then asked Jesus
tionship with God, and they are able to fellowship with who the Son of Man was, and Jesus replied, “You have
God face to face. What a glorious occasion that would be! seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you,” (John
The truth of the matter is that before sin entered this 9:37). What a shocking revelation this must have been for
world, this was a reality, as man had a perfect relationship the once-blind man! He was talking to the Son of Man
with God. However, sin eventually entered into the picture, himself!
and gone was man’s perfect relationship with God. All
hope is not lost though. From the beginning of time, God How did the blind man respond to this revelation? We see
had a special plan to reconcile humanity back to Himself. his response in verse 38: “He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he
This plan would be fulfilled through his Messiah – the worshipped him” (John 9:38). Once the man found out
anointed one. Today, we recognize this man as Jesus of and believed that Jesus was the Son of Man, he wor-
Nazareth – the Son of God and Savior of the world. shiped Jesus! Again, someone comes across this revela-
tion that Jesus is the Messiah, and again, Jesus is wor-
It is our responsibility to give Jesus the proper glory that shiped. We are starting to see a trend here.
he deserves, as he is the focal point of God’s plan to re-
deem and reconcile mankind. He is the only way that The third example that we are going to take a look at is
makes it possible for us to be reconciled to God. When found in Matthew 28, as it revolves around the resurrec-
considering all of this, we should shy away from giving tion of Jesus. After Jesus was resurrected from the grave,
Jesus too much glory, and at the same time we need to he appeared to a number of different people, and Mary
shy away from giving him not enough glory. There is a Magdalene and the “other” Mary were two of the lucky
balance that we all have to find. To help us find that bal- winners who witnessed the resurrected Jesus. After their
ance, I would like to take a look at three examples found encounter with the angel, they found Jesus, “And they
in the Bible that demonstrate Jesus receiving glory. came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped
him” (Matthew 28:9). They were so happy to see Jesus
The first example of Jesus receiving glory that we will that they literally fell to the ground and worshipped the
take a look at is located in Matthew 14:22-33. On this oc- resurrected Messiah.
casion, Jesus had just finished feeding the five thousand.
After this great miracle, the disciples leave the scene on a The resurrection was the clinching piece of evidence that
boat, and Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. After he anybody would need to know for certain that Jesus truly
got done praying, Jesus reconvened with his disciples. is the Messiah. When both of the Marys witnessed Jesus
However, he had to walk on water to catch up with them. in his resurrected state, they worshiped him, as they
It was quite a miraculous sight that caught the disciples’ would have known that he was the Messiah – the Chosen
attention. You don’t see people walking on water every One of God!
day.
In all three examples of the disciples, the blind man, and
How did the disciples respond to such a miracle? We can the two Marys, they all responded to the revelation that
see their response in verse 33: “And those in the boat wor- Jesus was the Messiah by worshiping him. In all three
shiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God,’” (Matt. instances when it mentions the worship of Jesus, the
14:33 ESV). They responded by worshiping Jesus. It was Greek word “proskyneo” is used, and it simply means to
an “aha moment.” The lightbulb went off! They finally real- bow down or worship. In none of the above examples is
ized that Jesus truly was the Son of God! Their initial in- Jesus worshiped as the God of all, but he is worshiped in
stinct once they came to this realization was to worship the proper context as the resurrected Son of God. These
Jesus. I can only imagine the joy and excitement in their three instances serve as good examples of finding that
hearts at this time. suitable balance of giving Jesus glory.

We must take note that the disciples weren’t worshiping Growing up, I shied away from giving Jesus much of any
or glorifying Jesus as the God of all. Rather, they were glory because I was afraid of assigning him glory that be-
giving him glory as the SON of God. They placed their glo- longed to God. It’s a valid thought process to have, but in
ry and worship into proper perspective. general, when fear is our main motivator, that can cause
us to make irrational decisions. This was no different.
When I stayed away from giving Jesus glory, I was in turn
The second example of Jesus receiving glory that we will restraining from giving God all the glory that he deserves,
look at is found in John 9. There was a man who was as God is the Father of Jesus.
born blind, and Jesus healed this man from his blindness.
It was quite the interesting procedure, as Jesus spit on In the past two years, I have recently had the pleasure of
the ground to make mud and wiped the blind man’s eyes becoming a father. Anytime that someone compliments
with the mud. This is another miracle that you don’t see my son, I am an indirect recipient of that compliment.
every day! That is because he is MY son, and I helped form him into
the adorable little mess he is today. In the same sense,
Jesus later confronted the once-blind man after the blind when we give glory to Jesus, God is an indirect recipient
man was cast out for witnessing about this miracle. Je- of the glory given to His Son. Therefore, I would let our
sus asked the man point blank, “Do you believe in the Son (Continued on page 6)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

Fear of the Lord

By Jacob Rohrer (NE)

One of the highlights for me in 2020 was completing a that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully
Bible reading plan. Surprisingly, I had never completed observing all the words of this law and these statutes.” -
(or, I think, attempted) one before. My experience was Deut. 17.18-19
wonderful, and I intend to complete a plan, Lord willing,
for the rest of my life, and I encourage you to do so too if “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the
you haven’t. The benefits I received were rich and bounti- testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
ful and one of the treasures I discovered is what I would The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing in the heart;
like to share with you in this article. As I read through the the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the
Bible in a year, I noticed a particular doctrine woven eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever.” -
through nearly every book of the Bible — the fear of the Ps. 19.7-9
LORD.
“Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of
A Definition of the Fear of the LORD the world stand in awe of him.” - Ps. 33.8

The fear of the Lord is a multi-dimensional doctrine that “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear
can’t be boiled down to one specific action or belief. Here of the LORD.” - Ps. 34.11
is my personal working definition of the fear of the Lord
from how the Bible presents it: “Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart;
there is no fear of God before his eyes.” - Ps. 36.1
The fear of the Lord begins as a heart condition, a heart
condition that recognizes God is God, and we are not. “Who understands the power of your anger and your fury,
The fear of God in a heart results in reverence and awe according to the fear that is due you?” - Ps. 90.11
towards God and his mighty existence and produces hu-
mility within the person who fears God. From this heart “My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your
condition the fear of the Lord presents itself tangibly in judgements.” - Ps. 119.120
the life of the believer by pursuing a righteous life, reject-
ing evil and sin, and confidently living the truth of God. “But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be
The fear of the Lord is overwhelmingly positive and is feared.” - Ps. 130.4
presented as something valuable and desirable to obtain.
In the Old Testament, the fear of the Lord refers to God “Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Ju-
the Father and in the New Testament, the fear of the Lord dah, saying, “Now hear this, O foolish and senseless peo-
includes the Lord Jesus Christ. ple, who have eyes but do not see; who have ears but do
not hear. Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you
not tremble in my presence?” - Jer. 5.20-22
The Fear of the LORD in the Old Testament
Conclusion: According to the Old Testament the fear of
The fear of the Lord is used in the Hebrew scriptures in a the Lord is repeatedly connected with the law of God. It
variety of ways: can be taught and learned. To fear God means to treat
your neighbor with dignity and respect. The fear of God
“He said do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and also means to marvel at his existence and works and his
do nothing to him; for now, I know that you fear God, ability to forgive sins in addition to experiencing terror at
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from his judgements.
me.” - Gen. 22.12
The Fear of the Lord in the New Testament
“Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has The phrase “the fear of the Lord” is less common in the
come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of New Testament, but I want to highlight two important
him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” - Ex. texts:
20.20
“I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill
“You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling the body and after that have no more they can do. But I
block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am will warn you whom to fear; fear the One who, after he
the LORD.” - Lev. 19.14 has killed, has authority to cast into hell, yes, I tell you,
fear him!” - Lk. 12.4-5
“You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the
aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.” “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of
- Lev. 19.32 Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his
deeds in the body, according to what he has done wheth-
“Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of er good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord,
his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law we persuade men.” - II Cor. 5.10-11
on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall
be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, (Continued on page 9)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

Fear of the Lord (cont.)

(Continued from page 8) The Inherit Goodness of the Fear of the Lord
Conclusion: Jesus teaches that the fear of God must re- I want to shine light on the overwhelmingly positive na-
side in every believer’s life and Paul teaches that one day ture of the fear of the Lord. We shouldn’t shy away from
every believer will give an account of their life to Jesus the fear of the Lord or view it as a primitive way to inter-
and because of that future reality, we should conduct our act with God. If you want the blessing and favor of God
lives in the fear of Jesus in the present, making the most on your life, then you must fear him and our Lord Jesus.
of the opportunities, talents, and life that have been given Here is how the scriptures testify to the benefits of the
to us. fear of the Lord.
Illustrations of the Fear of the Lord “Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has
come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of
God presents the fear of the Lord not only in instructional him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” - Ex.
teaching, but he demonstrates it through the lives of peo- 20.20
ple in the Bible. The scriptures contain many accounts of
people who do and do not fear the Lord. I’ll summarize “The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the
four accounts, but I encourage you to read them in full for wicked will be shortened.” - Prov. 10.27
yourselves.
“In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence…the
The Hebrew mid-wives - Exodus 1.15-23 fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid
The Hebrew mid-wives were faced with a choice; either the snares of death.” - Prov. 14.26-27
kill all the Hebrew boys that were born and transgress
against God, or save the boys and face possibly being “The fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep
killed by the king of Egypt. The midwives feared God satisfied, untouched by evil.” - Prov. 19.23
more than they feared the king and chose to save the
baby boys. Because of the mid-wives’ obedience, God “How blessed is the man who fears always, but he who
blessed them. hardens his heart will fall into calamity.” - Prov. 28.14

Nadab and Abihu - Leviticus 10.1-3 “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the
Up to this point in Leviticus 10, God has been painstak- Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments.” - Ps.
ingly clear on how he desires sacrifices to be given, in- 112.1
cluding the preceding chapter 9. In chapter 10 Nadab and
Abihu, the eldest sons of Aaron the high priest, who are “He [God] will bless those who fear the Lord, the small
priests themselves, offer sacrifices to God in a manner together with the great.” - Ps. 115.13
he did not prescribe—they offered “strange fire”. God then
strikes them both dead for their irreverent worship and “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks
failure to treat him as holy. Nadab and Abihu failed to in his ways…behold, for this shall the man be blessed
fear the Lord. who fears the Lord.” - Ps. 128.1,4

King Saul - I Samuel 15 “He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him; he will
At this point in Saul’s turbulent reign as king of Israel he also hear their cry and save them.” - Ps. 145.19
has repeatedly disobeyed God. The prophet Samuel gives
a message to Saul on behalf of God, telling him to utterly Conclusion
annihilate the Amalekites and everything they own. How- The theme of the fear of the Lord permeates the Old Tes-
ever, Saul spares the best livestock. When Samuel con- tament and New Testament scriptures. To fear God
fronts Saul, Saul says he spared the livestock to sacrifice means to obey him, honor him, revere him, be in awe of
them as offerings to the Lord. When Samuel announces him, and be in terror of his judgements. The fear of God
that God has removed Saul as king for his disobedience, and Jesus is thoroughly positive and invites the favor and
Saul reveals the reason he spared the live stock was be- blessing of God. In addition, the fear of God quenches sin
cause he feared the people. Saul feared man over God and disobedience. Are you a man or woman who fears
and resulted in disobeying God. the Lord? How strongly is the heartbeat of the fear of God
in your life? God’s will for your life and mine is to revere
King Hezekiah - II Kings 18.13-19.14 and honor him and his son Jesus. In fearing the Lord, we
Faithful king Hezekiah receives a letter from the king of live and experience the life God desires us to live in Je-
Assyria persuading him to surrender his kingdom. Includ- sus.
ed in this letter the king of Assyria urges Hezekiah to for-
sake his God because he cannot save Hezekiah or Israel.
When Hezekiah receives this letter, he takes it to the tem-
ple spreads it out before God and offers a beautiful pray-
er of petition for deliverance. Hezekiah feared God more
than the threat of invasion from a foreign king.

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

”
THEY STILL SPEAK
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when
God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4

The Children’s Page

By Madge Savage (MN)
Kinds of Crosses Finding Our Cross
As the Easter month is here and the trials and suf- As we talk about the many kinds of crosses in the
ferings of Christ are brought again to our minds, let world, we might compare them to many kinds of
us study a bit about crosses. According to the dic- work. Your father has different work for his living
tionary, a cross is sometimes the emblem of Christi- than does your friend’s father. The cross or the work
anity, or the symbol of the cross on which Christ that really counts is what is done for Christ. We are
died. told to labor not to be rich, but rather that we may
give to those in need.
The word cross has other meanings than its con-
nection with the crucifixion of Christ. It sometimes If we are too ambitious for our own selfish interests,
means the ancient instrument on which criminals we may discover we are so “tied down” to meet the
were fastened and on which they hung until they burdens we put upon ourselves that there is not
died of exhaustion. Sometimes a cross is merely much time or money for Christ. Place Christ first.
two lines, “X,” used by those who are unable to Then the other things will take their proper places.
write. They use the “X” as their signature. Some-
times a cross is a mixture of varieties of breeds of Our responsibilities, our work of love, we find we are
animals or strains of vegetable or fruit. A cross in able to do for Christ, are real. There is a work, a
electricity is when two wires connect, and a current cross, for everyone. Have you found yours? “If any
from one flows to the other. man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).
In a spiritual sense many look upon the cross as
something to be endured for Jesus’ sake as a suf- Unless we curb our natural desires to be able to car-
fering or trial. While some think an illness or afflic- ry our crosses for Christ, we cannot follow Him!
tion is their cross. If one studies the illness, he is The size of the cross we carry for Christ is just our
likely to find it not unusual. God has never promised size! He knows what we can do. Did you ever look at
His own that His people will escape the ills or afflic- another’s cross and decide it would be too heavy for
tions of the earth. He has promised us strength. you? Or, too light? Some break under a cross anoth-
Christ became perfect through suffering. Then how er carries with joy.
can we think we will become strong if God keeps all
the hardships of life from us? Let us do as did Paul Think seriously about your cross. At this time of
and prove by our living that we will let nothing sepa- year, we remember Christ “did the will of his father
rate us from God’s love. in heaven.” He willingly carried His cross long be-
fore He carried the one of wood that was forced up-
My Cross on Him. Perhaps He began to carry His cross when
Before you can bear your cross, or me bear mine, for at the age of twelve He realized He must be about
Christ, we look to see the first step. Jesus says our his “father’s business” as He talked to the doctors in
“self-denial” comes first. “Less of self and more of the temple.
Christ” is our aim. You and I must search our lives to
find out what we are doing for Christ and for our- Begin now to find a cross to carry for Christ that you
selves. Second, let us list the things into two may follow Him! What kind of follower are you if Je-
groups. Our activities are either for “me” or for sus sees you walking along without a cross—
“Christ.” The next thing is to cross off the things without any denial of self?
that are not right, pure, lawful. Then the questiona-
ble things should be gotten rid of as far as we are I pray you boys and girls will be wise in your life and
able to do so. As we follow Him, other things will be that you will not, of your own carelessness, burden
easy to do without because of the more joyful activi- yourselves with crosses that will hinder you in carry-
ties we undertake for Him. ing a cross for Christ.
______
The Restitution Herald. The Children’s Page (Vol
37 No 21, pg, 12) and (Vol 37 No 22, pg 12).

10
THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

“Why Weepest Thou?”

By Syd Magaw (former editor RH)

Following Jesus’ burial, the chief priests and Jesus’ head: and it was neatly folded and laid to
Pharisees appealed unto Pilate, saying, “Sir, we one side by itself. Suddenly, their fears changed
remember that that deceiver said, while he was to amazement—they knew! They believed! No
yet alive, ‘After three days I will rise again’. Com- disorderly thievery had occurred. Their Saviour
mand therefore that the sepulchre be made was risen! Alive from the dead!
sure until the third day, lest his disciples come
by night, and steal him away, and say unto the Outside the tomb, though, still in the garden,
people, He is risen from the dead: so the last Mary continued weeping. After Peter and John
error shall be worse than the first” (Matt. 27:63, left, probably not noticing Mary as they went,
64). Pilate replied, “Ye have a watch: go your she, still weeping, returned to look into the sep-
way, make it as sure as ye can.” Thereupon, the ulcher. The Christ was not there, but her fear
Jews “made the sepulchre sure, sealing the and sorrow suddenly changed into amazement.
stone, and setting a watch.” Two angels were in the tomb, “one at the head,
and the other at the feet, where the body of Je-
Thus, disbelieving Jews feared the disciples sus had lain.” They began speaking to her, say-
would steal Jesus from His tomb, that the disci- ing, “Woman, why weepest thou?”
ples might declare Him resurrected. Jesus’ dis-
ciples, however, so thoroughly forgot His prom- Mary replied, “Because they have taken away
ise of rising from the tomb, that they not only my Lord, and I know not where they have laid
had no thought of stealing Him for the purpose him.” Then, as if even a memory of her Lord
of making it appear He was resurrected, but were more precious than beholding angels,
some of them, finding the tomb empty, believed where she would like to have seen Jesus, she
somebody else had stolen Him. Jesus’ enemies turned away from the angels and faced out into
came a little closer to believing in the resurrec- the garden, not expecting to see anyone, but to
tion than did the disciples, for they remembered weep the more easily with none seeing her
Jesus’ promise to rise on the third day. tears. Surprised, she did see someone there in
the garden—and supposed it was the gardener.
Mary Magdalene, close friend of the Christ, was It was the Gardener!
one of the disciples whose faith utterly with-
ered. Coming early to the tomb on that third “Woman, why weepest thou?” Almost accusing
morning, while it was yet dark, and intending on- Jesus of having stolen Himself, Mary replied,
ly to anoint Jesus’ body, Mary suddenly feared “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where
and burst into sorrow. Running to other disci- thou hast laid him.”
ples, she cried, “They have taken away the Lord
out of the sepulchre, and we know not where “Mary”!
they have laid him” (John 20:2). Apparently, no
thought of resurrection possibility entered “Rabboni”!
Mary’s mind. Somebody, she thought, had sto-
len Jesus. The empty tomb excited no joy in “Why weepest thou?” Risen from the dead, the
Mary! Inspired no faith! O! Blind blindness! Gardener calls you and me. He knows our
names!
When Peter and John heard Mary’s report, they
ran to the opened sepulcher, fearing, apparently, “Rabboni”!
that Mary was correct—that Jesus had indeed ____
been stolen. Possibly, they could find the The Restitution Herald (Vol 37 No 23, pg, 2)
thieves! “Stooping down, and looking in,” John
saw the “linen clothes lying.” Why had not the
thieves stolen His clothing, also? When Peter
arrived a few minutes later, both, entering the
sepulcher, saw the napkin that had been about

11
THE RESTITUTION HERALD April-June 2021

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Church of God General Conference • Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son (Matt.
coggc.org 16:16), and is our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5);
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• the mortality of man (Job 4:17; Psa. 146:4);
atlantabiblecollege.com • the near return of Christ (Acts 1:11), and life only
Lord’s Harvest International through Him (Col. 3:3);
lhicog.com • the literal resurrection of the dead (John 5:28);
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ABC Korean Extension (1 Cor. 15:53-54);
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• the final restoration of Israel as the kingdom of
OTHER SITES TO EXPLORE God under the kingship of Christ (Luke 1:32);
21stcr.org (Dan Gill) • the church to be joint heirs with Him (Rom. 8:17),
trinities.org (Dr. Dale Tuggy) and Israel to be made head over Gentile nations
restitutio.org (Sean Finnegan) (Isa. 60:1-3);
SeekGrowLove.com (COG writers) • the “restitution of all things which God hath spoken
scatteredbrethren.org (Robin Todd) by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
thegodofjesus.com (Kegan Chandler) world began” (Acts 3:21).
KOGmissions.com (Tracy Zhykhovich)
focusonthekingdom.org (Anthony Buzzard) It also firmly advocates repentance and immersion in
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(Acts 2:38), and a consecrated life as essential to sal-
vation.

12
 … heaven must receive [Jesus] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith (part 2)

By Dennis Sharp (SC)
The Foundation for What We Believe This genealogy or account of Jesus’ lineage sup-
ports his Jewish messianic qualifications. It also
The importance of Abraham in God’s plan for the makes clear that Abraham preceded Jesus in time,
world is well-documented in the Old Testament. It which Matthew clearly demonstrates by starting with
begins when Abraham is called by God, and he faith- Abraham.
fully and obediently leaves his country and goes to a
place unknown to him at God’s request. God makes Jesus and the New Testament writers have much to
a covenant with him and promises him the land of say regarding the necessity of following Abraham’s
Canaan as an everlasting possession and that his example of faith and obedience. A thoughtful exami-
descendants will be too numerous to count. This ex- nation of their words will demonstrate that these
perience is the foundation of the kingdom of God writers saw the ministry of Jesus as an extension
message and key to understanding the Abrahamic and confirmation of the promises made to the patri-
faith. We learn that he is the first person called a He- archs and specifically to Abraham. Nowhere is this
brew (Gen. 14:13) and all Jews trace their ancestry more clearly stated than by Paul in Romans 15:8.
to him (Isa. 51:1-2). He is the first person called a “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of
prophet (Gen. 20:7), the first great patriarch. He is the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the prom-
called God’s friend (II Chr. 20:7), and God’s own self- ises of the patriarchs might be confirmed.” This pas-
identification includes his name, “I am the God of sage, in addition to linking Christ to Abraham and the
your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac covenant promise, illustrates the seamless transition
and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6). from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The
“Abrahamic Faith” is so named to acknowledge that
Abraham’s significance does not diminish as we the salvation we have by accepting and following Je-
move to the New Testament where he is mentioned sus actually began with the promise made to Abra-
no less than 70 times. In the very first verse of the ham. Let’s look at how Jesus and the writers of the
New Testament, Matthew starts his gospel by refer- New Testament support and emphasize this truth.
encing Abraham. “A record of the genealogy of Je-
sus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abra- In Luke 19 we have the story of Zacchaeus, and we
ham” (Matt. 1:1). Writing to the Jewish people, Mat- are told that he was a tax collector, wealthy, and
thew starts with Abraham, which connects Jesus to probably for those reasons, a sinner. He tells Jesus
the covenant promise of the land/kingdom and to (Continued on page 2)
David, whose throne he will inherit (II Sam. 7:14).

Articles Other Information

p1 ...... Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith p3 ...... Church of God Archives Project
p4 ...... Love is a Verb (part 1) p6 ...... Send Us Feedback
p7 ...... The Temple in the Olivet Prophecy p6 ...... Masthead
p8 ...... What Eschatology Means for Us p12 .... Websites to Explore
p10 .... Knowing God p12 .... How to Submit Articles
p11 .... Christ’s Seamless Garment p12 .... The Restitution Herald Advocates...

Volume 110, Number 3 July-Sep 2021

THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith (cont.)

(Continued from page 1) their origin in Abraham the Hebrew.”1 As an “heir,” we

that he will give half of his possessions to the poor, look forward with confidence to the resurrection at
and if he has cheated anybody, he will pay back four Christ’s second coming and our inheritance in the
times the amount. Jesus replies, “Today salvation Promised Land and the kingdom of God on earth.
has come to this house, because this man, too, is a This is consistent with what Paul said in verse 14,
son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). Here Jesus invokes “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to
the name of Abraham and teaches us what it means Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ
to be a “son of Abraham.” Salvation had come to Jesus.” Notice the phrase, “the blessing given to
Zacchaeus, not because of his blood lineage as a Abraham.” That phrase is used only twice in the Bible
Jew, but because of his faith which was like Abra- — here and in Genesis 28:4. “The blessing” is a refer-
ham’s. ence to the promise of the land and ultimate king-
dom of God on earth. The importance of correctly
Jesus again references Abraham in his dialogue with understanding Abraham and his faith is reflected by
the Pharisees. In John 8:58, he says, “I tell you the the fact that Paul uses Abraham’s name eight times
truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” Jesus was in this one chapter (Gal. 3).
saying that before Abraham was born, I am he, I am
the one I claim to be (see John 8:24), or I am the The frequent use of the words “heir” and
Messiah. He was not making a statement about his “inheritance” in the New Testament point back to
place in time, but rather he is asserting his pre- Abraham and further demonstrate how important the
eminence, not a pre-existence. Jesus’ pre-existence writers of the New Testament felt it was to show the
is only in the plan and mind of God, and Abraham plan of restoration began with Abraham.
foresaw this. His willingness to sacrifice Isaac testi-
fies to Abraham’s faith and understanding that God’s “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and
promise would be fulfilled through his “seed.” This is blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does
made clear in verse 56 where Jesus says, “Your fa- the perishable inherit the imperishable.” I Cor. 15:50
ther Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my
day; he saw it and was glad.” The “my day” that Abra- “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or
ham saw was Messiah’s day. Paul further clarifies greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has
this in Galatians 3:16 where he says, “The promises any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The scrip- Eph. 5:5
ture does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many peo-
ple, but ‘and to your seed’ meaning one person, who “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to
is Christ.” “Seed” here refers to Abraham’s human share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom
descendant or offspring. It is singular because it of light.” Col. 1:12
points to Jesus the Messiah. As verse 14 in the
same chapter points out, “He redeemed us in order “Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has God not
that the blessing given to Abraham might come to chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, so that by faith we to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he prom-
might receive the promise of the spirit.” We see here ised those who love him?” James 2:5
that it is important to both Jesus and Paul to refer-
ence Abraham in a proper understanding of faith and To be an heir, or to inherit, is a reference back to the
redemption. promise God made to Abraham that he would have
“offspring like the dust of the earth” (Gen. 13:16) and
Perhaps no verse better states the relationship be- “possession of the land” (Gen. 12:7; 13:14-15; 15:7,
tween Abraham, Jesus, and all Christians than Gala- 18-21; 17:8). The phrase “inherit the land” is used six
tians 3:29. This is a foundational verse for the times in Psalm 37 (verses 9, 11, 18, 22, 29, and 34).
Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith. Here Paul The statement of Jesus in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are
says, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s the meek for they will inherit the earth” is simply a re-
seed, and heirs according to the promise.” When statement of Psalm 37:11 which says, “But the meek
Paul says, “If you belong to Christ,” he is referring to will inherit the land…”. This is why Paul can say in Ro-
what he just said in verse 26, that we are “sons of mans 4:13:
God” if we have faith in, and were baptized into,
Christ. This puts us in the right relationship with God. “It was not through the law that Abraham and his off-
As sons of God and in brotherhood with Christ, we spring received the promise that he would be heir of
join and become Abraham’s seed (which is Christ), the world, but through the righteousness that came
and we share in the promised inheritance of God’s by faith.”
covenant with Abraham. “Indeed, all Christians find (Continued on page 3)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Abraham and the Abrahamic Faith (cont.)

(Continued from page 2) their inheritance in the promised land. He says,

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none
The New Testament equivalent to “inherit the land” of them received what had been promised. God had
is “inherit the kingdom.” Notice this phrase in the planned something better for us so that only togeth-
verses above and in the words of Jesus in Matthew er with us would they be made perfect” (Heb. 11:8-
25:34: 9). At the Messiah’s second coming the dead will be
resurrected, and those who are “in Christ” and the
“Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:29), will put on immortality
you who are blessed by my Father; take your inher- and at that time inherit eternal life (life in the age to
itance, the kingdom prepared for you since the crea- come). The apostle Paul is in complete agreement
tion of the world.” as he writes, “Now there is in store for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
That the righteous would inherit the world had been Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only
in God’s plan from the beginning. The words of the to me, but also to all who have longed for his ap-
Psalmist, “Ask of me and I will make the nations pearing” (II Tim. 4:8). Jesus also confirms this in the
your inheritance, the ends of the earth your posses- last chapter of Revelation where he says, “Behold, I
sion.” Psalm 2:8 demonstrates that before the time am coming soon! My reward is with me” (Rev.
of Jesus and Paul, the promised inheritance of the 22:12). In all of these examples, the focus is not on
land had been understood to include not just Israel the time of our death, but rather on Christ’s second
but the whole world. coming and the resurrection of the dead.

The Psalmist tells us that God remembers his cove- The Abrahamic faith is simple in logic, easy to un-
nant forever (Ps. 105:8), and so should we. The writ- derstand, and consistent throughout scripture. As
er of Hebrews, in defining what faith is (ch.11), re- one of our little Bible tracts written decades ago
members Abraham, his calling, descendants, and says:
the promise made to him. Mary, in her “hymn of
praise” (Luke 1:46-56) after the visit of the angel “Our faith and hope as Christians, as the seed of
foretelling the birth of the Messiah, remembers Abraham, looks forward to the inheritance with
Abraham. She says, “He has helped his servant Isra- Abraham in the Promised Land of the kingdom of
el, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his God on earth, when the Lord Jesus returns. This is
descendants forever.” Zechariah, in his “song of what ‘Abrahamic faith’ means!”
praise” after God has blessed him and his wife Eliz-
abeth with a son in old age, also remembers Abra- End Notes
ham and the covenant. “To show mercy to our fa- 1. Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham – Jewish
thers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath Roots of the Christian Faith, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-
he swore to our father Abraham” (Luke 1:72-73). lishing, 1989), p. 4

About the Author: Dennis Sharp is a lifelong member of

The beauty of the Abrahamic faith is that it also re- the Church of God. He currently serves on the Church of
members Abraham. It recognizes the plan of resto- God General Conference Board of Directors as the Chair-
ration starts with Abraham in the book of Genesis person. He lives in South Carolina and attends the Guth-
and continues to the end of Revelation. We are giv- rie Grove Church of God.
en a view of what the fulfillment of the covenant
promise looks like in Revelation 21: “And I heard a You can interact with him at [email protected]
loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling
of God is with men, and he will live with them. They
will be his people, and God himself will be with them CHURCH OF GOD ARCHIVES PROJECT
and be their God’” (Rev. 21:3). Now God has what he As we are scanning our collection, we are seeking other
has always wanted since the fall of man in the Gar- material to add. If you have books, tracts, articles,
den of Eden—an obedient people (Abraham’s de- sermons, writing, or publications, related to the
scendants both Jew and Gentile) living on a re- Church of God, please email us.
newed earth (the land promised to Abraham). “As
These are treasures that should not be lost.
God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among
them, and I will be their God, and they will be my Send email to: [email protected]
people’” (II Cor. 6:16).

The writer of Hebrews makes clear the timing of

View the Digital Archives at
when Abraham, and all who are faithful, will receive www.coggc.org

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Love is a Verb (part 1)

By Dr. G. Clell France (WA)
Biblical love. For Christians, these are two of the most meaning is a significant problem for Christianity in gen-
used and least understood words in the English lan- eral, and for the Church of God in particular.
guage. In the King James Bible the word “love” appears
310 times; in the NIV, 551 times. And while the modern For example, in my counseling practice a discouraged
meaning of “love” usually relates to a feeling or emotion, spouse would sometimes say “I just don’t love him or her
in the Bible the word is used in two different ways—one anymore.” We know the Bible admonishes husbands and
relating to emotion, and one relating to behavior. The wives to love each other. And while it’s not possible to
modern blending of these two biblical uses obscures an require someone to have a particular feeling, you can
important message of the Bible—that “love” usually suggest a specific behavior. It turns out the feelings will
means doing the difficult work of changing behavior, of follow! Did Paul tell the husbands in Ephesus to attend to
consciously and proactively adding value to others. their emotional attachments to their wives? Not likely. I
believe he told them to add value to their spouses, to
As a clinical psychologist and seminarian, I have always acknowledge them, and compliment them, to enhance
considered the Bible to be a relationship book. It de- their spouse’s feelings of self-worth.
scribes the relationships between God, Jesus, and hu-
manity. We all encounter challenges in our personal rela- Fortunately, the Bible gives us descriptive language about
tionships—we would not be human otherwise. And, as behavioral love. In Corinthians, Paul discusses the Chris-
Christians, we are admonished to love each other and our tian’s liberating knowledge about eating meat offered to
God unconditionally. Yet, as the Bible reports, “many fall idols, writing “Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.” (1 Co-
short.” rinthians 8:1, NIV). In the King James Version, the term
build is sometimes translated “edify” instead of “build.” In
As a culture, including Christians, we are usually unwilling modern usage, the original Greek word “edifice” is still
to behave in ways that sustain good, positive relation- used instead of “building.” To edify is to build, and build-
ships. Every year countless couples “fall in love” and get ing something means putting in time and effort to in-
married. However, nationwide about 50% of marriages crease its usefulness and value.
end in divorce. In my 30 years of practice focused on
marriage and family counseling, I discovered the pub- So, what happens when you build up or edify another per-
lished divorce rate did not include the true failure rate of son? What happens to that person? First, their mood im-
marriages. Many of us simply endure a failed marriage, proves. They may become more cheerful and more ener-
for a variety of reasons. The actual failure rate is proba- getic. They may become more alert, more attentive, more
bly closer to 75%. And, yes, many couples today simply confident. In short, they become more valuable, both to
move in together and forego marriage, but I suspect the themselves and to others. When you “build up” another
failure rate of those relationships is about the same. person, you literally “add value” to that person. I believe
this process lies at the heart of behavioral love. It in-
What does the Bible teach about love and relationships? volves every one of us every day. In short, every interac-
When Jesus was confronted by contentious intellectuals tion has a “value impact”—we are either adding value or
to name God’s single, greatest commandment, he re- taking value from one another! There is little or no middle
sponded with two linked, comparable commandments: ground.
love God and love your neighbor. This single statement
has sparked countless interpretations, opinions and In writing to the Ephesians, Paul advised them to use only
questions about love. What is love? How should it be ex- language helpful for building others up (Ephesians 4:29,
pressed or felt? How can it be put into action? How do NIV). Other biblical passages on “best practices” for in-
you “love your enemies?” Yet, in all circumstances, Paul teracting with others include terms like kindness, pa-
wrote “love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8, King James). tience, forbearance, forgiveness, and gentleness. When
credit is due, Paul advises acknowledgement “in honor
So, let’s explore the etymology of the word “love” in the preferring one another.” Don’t maneuver to make sure
Bible. In the New Testament two Greek words usually you get the credit, rather give credit to others involved. All
translate as “love”. One is the Greek word “philos”, which positive. All build. All add value.
relates to the emotional bond between people, like broth-
erly love, parental love, or spousal love. This is the mod- What happens when we don’t add value? Usually, uncon-
ern definition of the word “love”, as in “Philadelphia,” the sciously, we employ the exact opposite of edifying, loving
“city of brotherly love.” The other Greek word for love in behavior—we employ intimidation and guilt. My nephew
the Bible is “agapao,” and it has a different meaning. It recently purchased a best-selling book entitled “How to
describes behavior, not a feeling. This is an important Win Through Intimidation.” These two maladaptive be-
distinction, as we will soon see. haviors are not only commonplace, they are often cele-
brated. Intimidation and guilt have been used throughout
The word “love” appears in the NIV New Testament 232 history by individuals and leaders, including Christian
times. Usually the original Greek is “agapao” (behavioral) leaders, to control human thought and behavior.
not “philos” (emotional). Unfortunately, today both words
are interpreted as being the same—emotional, romantic, In Hebrews, Paul seems to chide believers for not having
or brotherly love. I believe this blending of the original (Continued on page 5)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Love is a Verb (cont.)

(Continued from page 4) especially when under pressure—and the cues that trig-
advanced in their Christian growth. He refers to them as ger that behavior. It is also helpful to plan and even re-
“babes in Christ” and says, “Solid food is for the mature, hearse positive responses to the negative trigger-cues.
who by constant use have trained themselves to distin- One positive response to de-escalate is simply withdraw-
guish good from evil. Therefore, let us leave the elemen- ing from the discussion until a later time. Remember, a
tary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.” (Heb positive “add value” response does not mean forfeiting
5:14; 6:1, NIV) This passage suggests Christians should your position in the discussion.
work to distinguish good from evil, and that it takes con-
stant use to change our cultural conditioning. In Romans, This re-conditioning is not easy, but it pays. You will be-
Paul also discusses “good” and “evil.” He mentions being come more effective in your relationships, and it is the
accused of promoting the saying “let us do evil that good best way to live life! I believe that rejecting this negative
may come” (Rom 3:8 NIV). Of course, Paul notes the neg- cultural conditioning is the heart of Jesus’ advice to “be
ative nature of the concept, which translates into modern in the world but not of the world.” It is particularly rele-
lingo as “the ends justify the means,” and rejects it. vant to my paraphrase of 1 John 4:19-21, “You cannot
truthfully say you love God if you devalue your neighbor.”
So, what is “good,” and what is “evil”? In Strong’s Con- To honor and respect God, take Paul’s advice and add
cordance, the original Greek word for “good” is translated value to others!
into “valuable” and “virtuous.” Both passages support the
positive concept of value. The word “evil,” in both passag- Importantly, these processes involve each of us every
es, comes from the same original Greek word which day. Whenever you interact with others, you have an im-
translates to the English word “worthless.” To make pact. You have no choice. You always have an impact!
something (or someone) valuable, you add value. To Your choice is, do you want your impact to be negative or
make something (or someone) worthless, you devalue or positive? Do you add value, or do you take value? There is
take value. We are culturally conditioned to be quite skill- little, if any, middle ground! “By constant use” learn to
ful at both, and we are usually unaware when we shift discern the difference between adding value and taking
from adding value to taking value! value. Your choice between adding or taking value be-
comes a way of life.
For instance, in a friendly discussion where two people
express mutual respect, they add value to each other. Most of us are probably quite familiar with, and likely uti-
However, if one participant becomes impatient with the lize, most of the common statements and behaviors that
other’s unwillingness to accept his or her point of view, add value, such as a smile or a compliment. In general,
they may intensify the discussion in several ways. One you add value to others by showing pleasant, positive,
may lean forward slightly, narrow their eyes with a little approving interest in them. Most of us do many of these
frown, or add intensity and volume to their voice. These things routinely, which is good. However, a positive inter-
changes are seldom the result of a conscious decision, action can be contaminated and even thwarted or re-
but are automatic habits triggered by cultural condition- versed! A compliment with a qualifier is contaminated by
ing. The one leaning forward and frowning may not even the qualifier which turns the whole statement into a criti-
notice their slight change in behavior, or if they are no- cal remark. This change takes value instead of adding
ticed, the new intensity may be justified by emphasizing value! “You did a great job, but I’ll bet you can do even
the importance of the issue. However, in all circumstanc- better next time!” That means this time it wasn’t good
es, these subtle changes in behavior will always be no- enough! One could say, “I like your hair! It really looks
ticed by the recipient! great, but I think it would look better just a bit short-
er.” Contamination kills the compliment.
In fact, the ends do not justify the means, in any arena of
human affairs, and especially in close personal relation- So, how do we love an enemy? The same way. Add value!
ships. Simply adding intensity in a person’s voice can If a person doesn’t get along well with others, watch, and
significantly shift the discussion away from the issue as the old saying goes, “catch him or her doing some-
being discussed toward intimidation, which devalues the thing right.” Let them know you like what they did! No
other person. In my estimation, this behavior is “doing qualifiers! They may reject your compliment - “I don’t care
evil that good may come.” Half jokingly, I have told clients much about what you think.” Always be prepared to re-
there should be a mirror on top of the head of the person affirm a rejected compliment. As in this case, “Yes, I
with whom we are having a disagreement so we can see know, but when I saw you do that, I really wanted to tell
how we look when we get intense and “serious.” you I liked what you did!” People often reject compli-
ments, so always be prepared to override the rejection. If
I believe this concept may be the most important, seri- you tell someone their hair looks nice, they might say,
ous, and difficult issue we deal with in relationship. We “Well, I really didn't do anything with it.” The reaffirming
must decide whether or not to reject our culture’s nefari- response might be, “Yes, but you know, it really does look
ous conditioning to prevail through intimidation and guilt, nice.” Don’t let them get away with the rejection!
the “taking of value” from others. Assuming a positive
decision, this would mean a commitment to become sen- Why does love not fail? The reason is simple. Humans
sitive to the negative behavior we can easily employ— (Continued on page 6)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Love is a Verb (cont.)

(Continued from page 5) Conclusion

are social beings. Each of us needs to be around and in-
volved with others. We need each other. We need valida- These universal principles of human behavior are ex-
tion and confirmation from others. In other words, our pressed eloquently in the Bible, and they are equally valid
prime motivation is to garner indications of positive ac- and true today as they were in Paul’s time. They are not
ceptance from others. It is typically the automatic, prime true because they are in the Bible. They are in the Bible
consideration when we get up in the morning and dress because they are true. They can be employed to produce
and groom. It continues to be a consideration in almost a positive or negative outcome in our relationships. It’s
all decisions and behavior. This consideration is auto- up to us. If we seek to influence each other using guilt,
matic and may not even be noticed. Adding value feeds intimidation and coercion, we may achieve short-term
our ever-present need for positive attention. success—however, it will be accomplished at the ex-
pense of the relationship we claim to value, as resistance
To say love doesn’t fail is like saying food doesn’t fail. We and resentment build, sometimes destroying the relation-
expend energy, so we need fuel. Food is that fuel. Food ship entirely. If we seek to influence by building each oth-
doesn’t fail. However, food can also be contaminated, er up—by adding value and giving credit to others as Paul
and if it is, it can reduce our ability function effectively. In counsels—we will inevitably experience more willing co-
the same way we thrive on uncontaminated food, we also operation, mutual appreciation and improved relation-
thrive on uncontaminated added value. ships. Positive or negative—add value, or take value—the
choice is ours to make.
Traditionally, we rely on adding value to attract a mate.
To court a spouse, we are typically alert to opportunities About the Author: Dr. G. Clell France is an elder in the
to offer unqualified compliments. When adding value to Wenatchee Church of God (Wenatchee, WA) and attend-
each other blossoms into a romantic relationship, we ed Oregon Bible College. After OBC Clell obtained a doc-
may decide to get married. Why does one partner ask the torate in clinical psychology and served as director of the
other to marry, instead of making a demand? Well, it is a Chelan-Douglas County mental health center for 12 years,
huge addition of value, since it gives the other partner then entered into three decades of private practice. His
complete control over a very significant decision! So why professional career focused on bringing biblical princi-
do potential marriage partners court in this traditional ples to the practice of clinical psychology.
way? Why do they add value to each other during this
phase of the relationship? There is only one reason. It You can interact with him at [email protected].
works!

So, they get married. Then what? Well, probably not the
typical childhood storybook ending, “They got married
and lived happily ever after!” More typically, cultural con- Send your feedback
ditioning tends to interfere, even before they are married. Enjoying the RESTITUTION HERALD? Let us know!
He may “automatically” let his guard down when he
thinks he has her “hooked” and give her some Want to see a topic addressed? Let us know!
“contaminated compliments” or worse. We often hear,
“the honeymoon is over and you gotta get back to reali- Email us at [email protected]
ty!” These negative, corrosive cultural misconceptions
seem to relegate the whole positive, value-adding court-
ing processes to a departure from reality. The negative,
devaluing behavior of these, as well as other cultural neg- THE RESTITUTION HERALD
ative misconceptions, certainly contribute to our high VOLUME 110 NUMBER 3—July-Sep 2021 ©2021
divorce rate. Proofreader: Robert Jones
Address editorial correspondence to: RESTITUTION HERALD,
After marriage, when some of the “new” mellows and 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253
things become more routine, what then? Well, our court-
Permissions: Atlanta Bible College/Church of God General Confer-
ing also tends to become more mellow and routine. How- ence grants permission for any original article (not a reprint) to be
ever, it needs to continue! Perhaps it won’t be as often or photocopied or duplicated for use without change, provided the
as consistent as before, but continue adding unqualified material is distributed free and the copies indicate the name of the
compliments. In my psychological practice, I call it publication and the name of Atlanta Bible College/Church of God
“positive feedback”. Occasionally, add extra zest to a General Conference, and our mailing address.
compliment. Always be polite and considerate. Create an THE RESTITUTION HERALD is owned and published by the Church of
occasional special event, or surprise outing, maybe a God General Conference, a nonprofit Christian corporation located
“weekend for two.” You will be amazed at the results! at 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253. THE HER-
ALD is mailed four times a year.

Authors and books are sometimes promoted in THE RESTITUTION

HERALD. We believe these contain items of interest to our read-
ers. This does not necessarily mean they exactly reflect the state-
ment of faith on page 12.

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

The Temple in the Olivet Prophecy

By John Cunningham (U.K.)
Debates over the Olivet prophecy often center around millennial temple, yet is spoken of as “this house.” “The
which temple is being spoken of in the following verses: former” refers back to Solomon's temple.

Matt 24:1-2. Then Jesus went out and departed from the It is clear from this that the various temples which might
temple and His disciples came up to show Him the build- arise are all considered to be the same house.
ings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not
see all these things? Assuredly I say to you, not one stone “Zerubbabel's temple was considered a continuation of
shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown Solomon's temple.” (NIV Study Bible note on Haggai 2:3).
down.
“The temple is regarded as one throughout” (Companion
The importance of this prediction is shown by the disci- Bible note on Haggai 2:3)
ples’ question. “Tell us, when will these things be? And
what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the “The second question followed immediately after the
age? (Matt 24:3) Notice they associated the statement first: “and how do ye see it now?”
with the end of the age and the parousia of Jesus.
Although comparison was being made between the tem-
A further prediction is found in verse 15. “Therefore, ple Solomon built and the one now being built, the ex-
when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of pression “this house” in the first question and the pro-
by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever noun “it” in the second indicates that Jehovah viewed
reads, let him understand).” Daniel spoke of this abomi- them as only one house of the Lord, i.e. He only had one
nation in Dan 9:27, 11:31 12:11, and it is also mentioned place where He dwelt in the midst of His people. Jeho-
in 8:12-13. All of these references point unmistakably to vah's house had been seen in all its glory, then in ruin, but
the end of the age and the destruction of Antichrist. now was being rebuilt. This temple is identified with Solo-
mon's as fulfilling the same purpose, built upon the same
Futurists therefore refer all these passages to the temple hallowed ground, and being central in the nation's life. (P.
at the time of the end. Harding, Haggai, What the Bible Teaches series, p.264
Kilmarnock, Scotland, 2007)
Nevertheless, some point out that Jesus' original state-
ment has to mean the temple then standing. It was “The Jews viewed the temple in Jerusalem as one temple
Herod's temple that Jesus spoke of and which the disci- existing in different forms at different times. The rebuilt
ples then asked about. Note “the buildings of the tem- temple was considered a continuation of Solomon's tem-
ple” (Matt 24:1) and “these things” (Matt 24:2). See also ple (cf. v3) However, the eschatological glory of the mil-
Mark 13:1-2, Luke 21:5-6. lennial temple, i.e. the latter temple, will far surpass even
the grandeur of Solomon's temple (the former temple) Cf.
They then proceed to interpret the whole prophecy to Ezek. 40-48 for the detailed description of the millennial
center around 70 A.D. temple” (John MacArthur Study Bible, Haggai 2:9)

Now this might seem reasonable to Western educated There is therefore only one temple, manifested in differ-
minds, but the Jews had a different mind-set about a lot ent forms, and an existing temple can be spoken of as a
of things including the temple. future one. The temple in the Olivet prophecy is the tribu-
lation temple at the time of the end, in which the abomi-
Let’s look at Haggai chapter 2. “Who is left among you nation of desolation will stand. The disciples thought so,
who saw this temple in its former glory.” The words “this and Jesus confirmed it.
temple” and “its former glory” show clearly that Solo-
mon's temple and the one being spoken of were regarded About the Author: John Cunningham is a native of North-
as the same temple, not two separate ones. ern Ireland. He learned about the Church of God from Sir
Anthony Buzzard in 1981 and was baptized in the Rock
Notice further in verses 6-9 for more striking confirma- River in Illinois in 1983. He attended several Theological
tion of this. “For thus saith the Lord of Hosts 'Yet once, it Conferences and gave a number of talks. He is a retired
is a little while and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, accountant. He is a member of the Scattered Brethren
and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations Network as there are no church members in the immedi-
and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this ate vicinity as yet.
house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of
this latter house shall be greater shall be greater than of You can interact with him at
the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I [email protected]
give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” (KJV)

Note the emphasized words. The temple then under con-

struction is “this house” and is also the house to be filled
with glory when the nations are shaken and the desire of
all nations shall come. “In this place (the temple currently
under construction) will I give peace.” This refers to the

7
THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

What Eschatology Means for Us

By Nathan Massie (IL)
Since the beginning days of our General Conference, will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His
one of the prime focuses has been on God’s kingdom paths” (Isaiah 2:3 NIV). The first act of this new crea-
on a renewed earth for all of eternity. This is a marvel- tion is to “judge between the nations and to settle dis-
ous truth that gives us a sustaining hope through pre- putes for all people” (Isaiah 2:4a) and the reaction of
sent difficult circumstances. It gives us the strength to the people is a remarkable change in attitude. The
be able to face tomorrow, because no matter what people who were originally warring between each oth-
happens to us, God will vindicate us in the age to er “will beat their swords into plowshares and their
come. Is there more to be had from these theological spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4b). The prime
truths beyond the future reality of what the return of directive of Yahweh in His coming kingdom is peace to
Jesus holds? be had among all people. This is not just an eschato-
logical truth. This is something that we need to begin
It is clear that from the time of the Old Testament to cultivate among ourselves now, in the present ex-
prophets (especially those who experienced the exiles) pression of the kingdom: the church. There are three
they all were looking forward to a time where Israel ways that we can “beat our swords into plowshares” in
would be a sovereign nation that was ruled by God the present: the speed at which we resolve our con-
Himself through the Messiah. The new governmental flicts, the words that we choose to share between one
policies of God are founded in truth, justice and peace another, and acts of forgiveness.
for all time. These again are the promises that we look
forward to in the coming kingdom, but, beyond hope The very language used in Isaiah 2:4 concerning the
(which is extremely important), can we gain something repurposing of swords and spears assumes a certain
deeper from these texts that show us glimpses of speed at which these acts will come to pass. The word
what’s to come? that is translated into “beat” in the NIV or “hammered”
in the NASB, comes from the root word ‫כִ ְּת ֨ת‬
When Jesus began his ministry in Mark’s gospel, he (kathath) which means to “to beat, crush by beating,”
said, “The time has come! … The kingdom of God has and it also shows up as a word for crushing or
come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark smiting.2 Someone with even a novice understanding
1:15, NIV). This passage shows the dual realities of of blacksmithing knows that you need to heat and
the kingdom of God. God’s “kingship is both a present slowly bend metal over time for it to be repurposed
reality (God is exercising his authority now) and a fu- effectively. The language used suggests that there is
ture hope (God will reign in the eschaton - the End - no time to waste in the reforming of the tools. These
when he finally puts down all opposition to his reign.)”1 weapons will be dealt with in a forcible manner in
God was blending the powers of the age to come into which there is no hope for a return to the previous
the present through the ministry of his son Jesus. The state. God’s transforming power of peace happens
kingdom is both where Jesus is and the final hope for immediately with no time to spare.
all believers: it is a present reality found in the church,
and the future salvation for God’s people. The time frame in which these changes will occur are
also reflected in some of the teachings by the apostle
With an understanding of the present realities of God’s Paul. When a conflict arises and feelings are hurt and
kingdom, it is important for us to reflect on what it anger arises, Paul says “do not let the sun go down
means for us. What if the kingdom could be experi- while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26 NIV). This
enced in a deeper way in the present beyond the joys teaching shows and reflects the change that will come
of our fellowship and meeting together? What if we in God’s kingdom. Peace will be sudden and non-
took future realities in the full culmination of God’s negotiable. This is how we ought to live in the present.
kingdom and lived out those principles in the present? To live our lives in such a way where we are quick to
What would it look like? How would the church be dif- forgive and fast to restore peace among ourselves.
ferent? Is it even possible to do such a thing? The an- Some of the most damaging effects to the body of
swer is yes. There are aspects of the coming kingdom Christ are to allow wounds between brothers and sis-
that we can live out in the present. It won’t be the in- ters to fester. This builds opposition, contention and
corruptibility of our bodies. It won’t be escaping suffer- an unloving nature within the church. We must make
ing or death. But what it can be is experiencing the quick work of making peace with one another, and to
most significant change that God sets from the foun- be willing to beat our anger into compassion. To ham-
dation of his kingdom, which is peace. mer our disagreements into effective conversations.
To shape our lives in such a way that resolving con-
In Isaiah chapter two, a vision is set concerning the flicts is our first and foremost goal to preserve the
last days where Yahweh inhabits the earth again com- church as a whole. In the words of E.K. Simpson in his
ing from a new and holy temple (Isaiah 2:2). We get a commentary on Ephesians 4:26, he says “practice the
glimpse of the reordering of operations in verse three.
When God is reigning in his kingdom on the earth “He (Continued on page 9)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

What Eschatology Means for Us (cont.)

(Continued from page 8) how often we forgive each other. When we choose not
noble art of self-restraint. Give no handle to the adver- to forgive, we are harboring bitterness within our-
sary.”3 We must take our time to sue for peace and do selves. Joanna Weaver said it best that “bitterness is
it as quickly as possible. like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to
die.”5 Forgiveness is the antidote to that poison in our
The most powerful weapons that we carry on a daily lives. Forgiveness is not just something that comes
basis are our mouths and what proceeds from them: from God when we ask for it. It must also come from
words. It is possible for us to use our words in a way us and go to one another. This is not optional. It is an
that is constructive or destructive. Every time we have imperative. We must be willing to forgive.
the opportunity to open our mouths we have a choice
to make. What will be the next word that comes out of Studying the end times doesn’t always have to be a
our mouths? Will the words we share be effective or heady occasion where we are looking at calendars,
will they come back empty? Will we choose to share books and newspapers. Sometimes reading these
the substance from God or the folly of man? Solomon truths that will materialize at the return of Jesus
plainly says in Proverbs 18:21a “the tongue has the doesn’t have to just be for hope. It can be a compass
power of life and death” (NIV). This means that every to navigate the often-muddy waters and stormy skies
time we open our mouths we are unsheathing poten- of life. These truths give us a goal to imitate in the pre-
tial disasters. We must take our words that we would sent. It gives us the aim of what God has always want-
use for ill and repurpose to be words that give life. We ed from us. It gives us focus on what really matters. It
must do away with our weapons of wrath and make shows us how to be more like Christ in the here and
them into cultivation tools of life. now for a broken world. It gives us the cure to the
heartache and grief that we all experience through dis-
When we choose to share negative words, we are not agreements and points of contention. These truths
only hurting others, but we are hurting ourselves. The give us a way to make the church in the here and now
Midrash Tehellim (the midrash is an ancient Hebrew a little more like the kingdom that is coming. When we
commentary on the Hebrew Bible) says that “the evil live our lives this way, Isaiah 2:5 suggests that we are
tongue slays three, the slanderer, the slandered, and walking in the light of the LORD. Come, let us beat our
the listener.”4 When we choose to not speak words of swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning
life into other people, we are not speaking life into our- hooks, together.
selves. We are setting ourselves for the same fate that
we are wishing on other people when we do not share End Notes
words that build up and bring forth life. 1 The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Mark, vol. 8,
Frank Gaebelein, page 624.
The final thought to be explored from this Isaiah 2 pas- 2 Strong’s Concordance, entry number 3807.
sage is the acts of forgiveness that happen between
all of the nations. If one army is to totally disarm them- 3 The New International Commentary on the New Testa-
selves by making their means of defense into farming ment: The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians,
tools, then they must be sure of the forgiveness that F.F. Bruce, Page 108.
has been achieved from their enemies. For us in the 4 Midrash Tehillim 52:2 as quoted by Allen P. Ross in The
present, we must disarm ourselves from the afore- Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Proverbs, vol. 5,
mentioned words that don’t bring life and live a life Frank Gaebelein, page 1028.
that brings peace through forgiveness. It is so relata-
ble that we are often called siblings in Christ, because 5 Joanna Weaver on Theologyalongtheway.org, Bitter-
one of the most obvious marks of siblinghood is rival- ness is Like Drinking Poison and Waiting for the Other
Person to Die by Nathan Millican.
ry and unrest. Eventually most grow out of it, but grow-
ing often requires growing pains. To admit our short-
comings, to have the strength to make known our About the Author: Nathan Massie is from the
wrongdoings, and to show the fruit of the spirit in our Lawrenceville Church of God in Springfield, OH. He is a
lives, we must show that we are willing to be people graduate of Atlanta Bible College and currently in a
that can forgive and move forward. pastoral internship under pastor Michael Hoffman at the
Oregon Church of God in Oregon, IL.
Jesus addresses this in Matthew 18:21-22 where Pe-
ter asks how many times he must forgive the brother You can interact with him at
or sister who wrongs him. Peter thinks that seven is [email protected]
sufficient, but Jesus corrects his way of thinking and
says seven times seventy. This is not to say that our
forgiveness only goes to four-hundred and ninety, but
to a point where none of us could accurately count

9
THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

”
THEY STILL SPEAK
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when
God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4

Acquaintance With God

By Lyman Booth (1920)
“And this is eternal life that they may know thee the only Fellowship is a more comprehensive term, including not
true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" only acquaintance and fellowship, but sympathy and love
John 17:25 as well.

Since the attaining of eternal life in the coming age is Friendship may be strong, and fellowship may be weak,
dependent on “knowing” the one true God AND Jesus the but wherever fellowship is complete, acquaintance will
Messiah and “being known” by them in a familial relation- become more intimate. Therefore, fellowship, friendship,
ship, believers should make this a priority in each day and love all depend upon intimate acquaintance. If this
that God has given to us. be true in relation to men, how much more does our
friendship, fellowship and love for our Heavenly Father
To amplify the importance of this endeavor, Lyman Booth depend upon our acquaintance with him? Therefore, if we
(1849-1934) wrote a series of fifty articles, for the Resti- would know God and be known of him, it becomes neces-
tution Herald Vol. 10-12 (1920-1923), that culminated sary for us to acquaint ourselves with him. This necessity
in a book entitled “Acquaintance with God.” The following gives rise to the question, “How can I become acquainted
article sets the tone for how important he felt each of us with him?” “How can I know him whom I have never seen
should strive to know, and be known, by the God who “is nor can see, while in this mortal state?”
intimately acquainted with all our ways” (Psalms 139:3).
This is a pertinent question and one worthy of a compre-
~Bobby Partain, Jr. hensive answer. A large volume might be written in reply.
-------o------- It is the writer’s intention to present some thoughts which
he has gleaned from Holy Writ and from observing mate-
“Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace; thereby rial objects in the great book of nature. The infinite and
good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law all-wise Creator has given to his children two books for
from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If study, each containing infinitely more than any one per-
thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou son can master in three score years and ten. His written
shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.” book is one of infinite and inexhaustible knowledge, far
Job 22:21-23 beyond the reach of finite minds to grasp. And yet, it is so
plain that they who diligently and prayerfully search its
Acquaintance between two or more persons presumes sacred pages may learn to know its author, for therein is
that each has known the other. We may know a public his existence, mercy and love clearly revealed and de-
man by his works, his writings, and his speeches. We fined. The other volume, in mute and silent language,
may know a man by what he has done for the good or ill speaks to the close observer of the works of his creative
of the public, but we cannot claim acquaintance unless powers, in which his existence and glory are most won-
he also knows us. derfully manifested, and some acquaintance may be had
by studying them. His invisible and infinite power and
Acquaintance may be pleasant or otherwise, even with knowledge are clearly revealed therein.
little companionship. The reverse may also be true. Two
workmen on a machine may be in each other’s company While we may not behold the Creator of all things, and
many months and know but little of each other. They may see him face-to-face, yet in his works which he has made,
associate without any great degree of intimacy or friend- and which are all around us in great profusion, he is visi-
ship. ble. They speak in silent tones of his eternal and un-
derived existence. Their beauty, perfection, the great vari-
Acquaintance admits of many degrees. It may be slight, ety and immensity of his creatures all testify to his infi-
formal or passing, or intimate. Familiarity may imply an nite and eternal power; for none other could ever design
unfavorable or undesirable meaning, as mentioned in and bring into existence the numberless objects that are
Proverbs, where it says “familiarity breeds contempt.” to be found in the storehouse of nature.
Therefore, the word intimacy is preferable in expressing
the relation between persons as regards their thoughts, The question has been asked, “How may I know and form
feelings and mutual interests and welfare. the acquaintance of one whom I have never seen nor can
see?” It has been truly said that we cannot fully know a
Acquaintance does not necessarily include friendship, person until we have lived with that person a term of
but friendship must include acquaintance. An acquaint- years. We frequently meet people of whom we form very
ance may be an enemy, the knowledge of which bars the favorable opinions, only to have those opinions changed
enemy from our friendship. We can, and may, associate after being in close contact with them for a short time.
with an enemy, but cannot fellowship him. Our respect and admiration changed to indifference, dis-
(Continued on page 11)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Acquaintance With God (cont.)

(Continued from page 10)

gust, and in some instances almost to hatred. With others, On the other hand, the righteous are clothed with the gar-
it is the reverse. The longer we know them and the more ment of praise and robe of righteousness. They keep their
we are in their society, the greater our respect and admira- garments, and their garments are not defiled (Rev. 3:4).
tion, and the stronger our attachment. They hate even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude
23), and they shall walk with God in white. All this shows
All the knowledge that we can acquire of our Heavenly the symbolical significance of the garments, the charac-
Father, of his works and his glory, must be through a care- ter, the real nature as expressed in word and act, and lived
ful, prayerful and diligent study of the two great volumes from day to day. No one can live a pure, holy life, unless
he has given us. That knowledge which pertains particu- they possess the spirit of holiness and purity within.
larly to our salvation must be through Christ, which is re- Hence, the outward character indicates the inward nature
vealed in his written word. Man in his sinful estate is not or spirit.
only a stranger, but an enemy to God, Being an enemy he
cannot approach him except through a mediator, for Je- If the entire outward life of a person is known, his real
sus hath said, “I am the way and the truth and the life: no spirit and nature is known, as surely as a tree is known by
man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6. its fruit. Many people will have many character garments
with frequent changes and variations. Their apparel in this
There was a time when man was in close relationship respect will have many rents and patches, with number-
with his maker, but sin broke their friendship, and it placed less seams, because of the many shapes and forms that
man at enmity with his Creator. The fault was not God’s, have to be accommodated and fitted for various occa-
but man’s. Isa. 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have separated sions and different persons.
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his
face from you.” Hence no friendship can exist between But Jesus wore one unvarying, beautiful, rich seamless
them, and no reconciliation effected, until man renounces garment. He had no need to make himself up for any par-
his sins, and pleads, through Christ, the mediator, for rec- ticular occasion or to meet any particular person. He did
onciliation. In no other way can man gain an audience not have to put on or put off. He possessed one perfect,
with the Majesty of Heaven. All other attempts will prove flawless character, for all occasions and all persons. He
of no avail. Penances, vows or promises, so easily broken wore a seamless garment.
and forgotten, will not suffice to gain his friendship.
The many seams in a garment indicate the extreme effort
The terms of reconciliation are honorable and just, and to make it fit, or they might indicate the scantiness of the
must not be rejected, except at man’s peril. While God is original material.
merciful and compassionate, he is compelled to be just to
all. He did not offend man, but man did offend his Maker, In all these respects the many seamed garment would
and his honor will not permit him to receive man into his well represent the character of the natural man. How shall
friendship without first receiving complete satisfaction for mortal man be just before God? By accepting the right-
past offences. eousness provided—The Lord Jesus Christ—who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and
The Restitution Herald, Vol. 10 No. 7, Nov. 16, 1920, p. redemption. As perfect love is the love of God, so the per-
55. fect righteousness is the righteousness of God, which is
the righteousness of the perfect man, even that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith (Phil. 3.9). “For Christ, who knew no sin, was
Christ’s Seamless Garment made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Thus, having his righteous-
By Sister Wyman (1920) ness, we have his character, and wear his seamless gar-
ment, not to perfection as yet, but we follow on.

I have been reading a little tract entitled “Christ’s Seam- How long, oh Lord, shall thy children wait for deliverance?
less Garment,” and some of the thoughts presented How long before they awake in thy likeness? Where is the
seemed beautiful and scriptural. seamless garment, which was so beautiful that even thine
enemies would not rend it? Let it fall upon thy Joshua, for
What did the seamless coat of Christ represent? Our gar- verily his soul doth exceeding long to be clothed upon
ments are our outward covering. They make up our out- with the house from heaven.
ward appearance, and ought to signify one’s character as
it appears to the world and to those most intimately con- Even so, come Lord Jesus.
nected with him in his business and pleasure every day in
the week. In scripture the apparel is referred to with the The Restitution Herald, Vol. 10 No. 3, Oct. 19, 1920, pp.
above significance, both to denote the wicked and the 18-19.
righteous. Thus pride and violence are represented as the
garments of the wicked (Psa. 73:6).

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD July-Sep 2021

Atlanta Bible College

Church of God General Conference
2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400
McDonough, GA 30253

Address Service Requested

The Restitution Herald is owned and published by Church of God General Conference, 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253.
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The Restitution Herald advocates:

CHURCH OF GOD ONLINE
• the oneness of God (1 Cor. 8:6);
• the Holy Spirit is God’s power (Acts 1:8);
Church of God General Conference • Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son (Matt.
coggc.org 16:16), and is our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5);
Atlanta Bible College • the Bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16);
• the mortality of man (Job 4:17; Psa. 146:4);
atlantabiblecollege.com • the near return of Christ (Acts 1:11), and life only
Lord’s Harvest International through Him (Col. 3:3);
lhicog.com • the literal resurrection of the dead (John 5:28);
• the immortalization of those in Christ
ABC Korean Extension (1 Cor. 15:53-54);
abcke.org • the destruction of the wicked (Rev. 21:8);
• the final restoration of Israel as the kingdom of
OTHER SITES TO EXPLORE God under the kingship of Christ (Luke 1:32);
21stcr.org (Dan Gill) • the church to be joint heirs with Him (Rom. 8:17),
trinities.org (Dr. Dale Tuggy) and Israel to be made head over Gentile nations
restitutio.org (Sean Finnegan) (Isa. 60:1-3);
SeekGrowLove.com (COG writers) • the “restitution of all things which God hath spoken
scatteredbrethren.org (Robin Todd) by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
thegodofjesus.com (Kegan Chandler) world began” (Acts 3:21).
KOGmissions.com (Tracy Zhykhovich)
focusonthekingdom.org (Anthony Buzzard) It also firmly advocates repentance and immersion in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins
(Acts 2:38), and a consecrated life as essential to sal-
vation.

12
 … heaven must receive [Jesus] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord*

By Jeff Fletcher (VA)
*Based on a sermon preached on July 4, 2021 with churches and other religious congregations. As
the Christian influence is being eroded, are we be-
On July 4, 1976 the United States celebrated the na- coming a more moral nation or a less moral nation?
tion’s bicentennial. In Philadelphia that day there
was a Christian celebration where representatives The relationship between faith and nation has al-
from all denominations and churches were invited to ways been an interesting one. Most of our founders
come and pray for our nation. My father, Joe Fletch- had religious faith and heritage. The values that
er, was asked to represent the Church of God Gen- many of them had came from their faith in God, and,
eral Conference. I was twelve at the time, and I was from the beginning there was the intention to create
able to accompany my father to this event. I do not a place where people are free to practice their reli-
remember a lot about the day. There were lots of gion as their conscience dictates, but also recogniz-
people there, some of the speakers included Jerry ing that faith and religious values are important to
Falwell and Jesse Jackson, a very diverse group of preserve the kind of freedoms that we have sought
speakers. It was a reminder to us all that America to maintain.
had a strong Christian foundation.
In 1787 Pennsylvania delegate Benjamin Franklin ar-
In the 45 years that have passed since that day we gued that the delegates to the Constitutional Con-
have seen a lot of changes in our nation. Much of vention should open their sessions with prayer, con-
our early history is being rewritten. Much of our na- tending that otherwise they would do "no better than
tional story is being contested. Is America still a the builders of Babel.” Franklin told the Constitution-
Christian nation? Was it ever a Christian nation? al Convention: "I have lived, sir, a long time, and the
What does that even mean? longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this
truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if
It is clear that people’s attitude toward religion is a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his no-
changing. For the first time in the 80 years that Gal- tice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his
lup has been tracking it, now less than 50% of all aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writ-
Americans belong to a church, synagogue or ings, that 'except the Lord builds the house they la-
mosque. Just in the last twenty-one years we’ve bor in vain that build it.' I firmly believe this, and I al-
seen a drop from 70% of Americans who belong to a so believe that without his concurring aid we shall
religious community to 47%.1 That’s a drop off of succeed in this political building no better than the
nearly 80 million people who are no longer affiliated (Continued on page 2)

Articles Other Information

p1 ...... Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the p10 .... Masthead
Lord p10 .... Archives Project Information
p5 ...... Revelation: A Vision of Victory p16 .... Websites to Explore
p8 ...... Love is a Verb (part 2) p16 .... How to Submit Articles
p11 .... Christology and the Angel of the Lord p16 .... The Restitution Herald Advocates
p14 .... They Still Speak

Volume 110, Number 4 Oct-Dec 2021

THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord (cont.)

(Continued from page 1) church is shrinking and evil and godlessness appear
builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little to be winning? We follow Jesus.
partial local interests. Our projects will be confound-
ed, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and Psalm 33:12 says: “12 Blessed is the nation whose
bye word down to future ages." God is the Lord”.

Franklin thought that without God’s help, America When King David first composed those words as a
would fail. Likewise, President John Adams said: Psalm, it was a reminder to a particular nation, Israel,
“Our constitution was made only for a moral and reli- which had a particular relationship with God. From
gious people. It is wholly inadequate to the govern- the time that God first called the man Abram from
ment of any other.” out of Mesopotamia to follow God to the land God
would show him, his inheritance, the land God would
Thomas Jefferson lobbied for the separation of the give to him and his children who were not yet born as
church and state, not to keep God out of the govern- an everlasting possession. From that time Israel had
ment, But to keep the government out of controlling a special and unique relationship with God.
the churches. He wanted people to have the freedom
to worship God according to their faith, not dictated God was the one who caused Israel to be born, to be-
by the federal government. come a great nation. God supernaturally opened up
Sarah’s womb so that at age 90 she gave birth to
We want America to be a place where we can be free Isaac, Abraham’s heir.
to practice our faith without government interfer-
ence, but we also do not want our laws to be based When famine came, it was God who saved his people
on immoral foundations. Adams recognized that our by having Joseph go down to Egypt ahead of them
particular system of government depends upon mor- and rise up to be second to Pharaoh alone in all of
al people, or it cannot be sustained. Egypt. When Israel was enslaved to Egypt, it was God
who brought upon Egypt the plagues and forced
Over the last 50 years a steep decline in morality in Pharaoh to let God’s people Israel go.
the United States, from the sanctioning of abortion
on demand as a right to the sanctioning of gay mar- It was God who parted the Red Sea.
riage, the decrease in marriage and family and the in-
crease in cohabitation, it is looking less and less like It was God who fed them in the wilderness for 40
a Christian nation in many ways. In many places sup- years with manna and quail and brought them water
port for Israel is declining. The Christian church no from the rock.
longer exerts much influence on our nation.
It was God who kept them from dying from the dis-
As Christians we need to recognize to whom our alle- eases that plagued other nations.
giance belongs. It is first to God, then to country. In
recent years Christians have concentrated a lot of It was God who parted the Jordan River so that they
energy into influencing government policy, getting could enter the land of promise.
politicians elected who will make favorable judicial
appointments, especially to the Supreme Court. It was God who caused the walls of Jericho to fall
However, we are still losing ground when it comes to down with the blast of a trumpet.
faith and morality.
It was God who gave them laws so that they could
On this Independence Day it is good for us to pause function as a community.
and remind ourselves of what we are called to do
and to be as God’s people. It was God who sent the rain to grow the crops.

How do Christians live as Christians in a hostile soci- It was God who sent David to beat Goliath the Philis-
ety? tine.

How do Christians influence a culture when the cul- It was God who called David to be his anointed and
ture is moving away from faith in God? promised that his heir would reign over God’s people
forever.
What do you and I need to be doing as Christians liv-
ing in the United States when the influence of the (Continued on page 3)

2
THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord (cont.)

(Continued from page 2) Galatians 3:26-29: “So in Christ Jesus you are all
God did all of these things. Israel was God’s chosen children of God through faith, for all of you who
people. were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves
with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither
Moses went up to the mountain to receive the Ten slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you
Commandments as reported in Exodus 19:3-6: are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to
“Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and
him from the mountain and said, “This is what you heirs according to the promise.”
are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what
you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves Speaking to the church, Peter wrote: “But you are a
have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy na-
on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if tion, God’s special possession, that you may declare
you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of the praises of him who called you out of darkness
all nations you will be my treasured posses- into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people,
sion. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be but now you are the people of God; once you had
for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These not received mercy, but now you have received mer-
are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” cy.” I Peter 2:9-10.

“Out of all nations you, Israel, will be my treasured We are to become the people God intended Israel to
possession. You will be for me a kingdom of priests be, but who fell short. We the church are chosen by
and a holy nation.” How did Israel do? Not so good. God to be a chosen people, we are a holy nation, we
are set apart by God to serve, we are to act as a
They did not keep the covenant. priestly kingdom who brings people to God and God
to people.
They were not faithful to God
The United States is NOT a Christian nation just as
They worshipped idols, Baal and Ashtoreth. Israel was not a Christian nation.

They were not lights to the nations, instead they al- But from out of Israel God called people to become
lowed themselves to be corrupted by the ungodly a holy nation in the church.
practices of the nations. So, God warned them.
Sometimes they repented, but often they did not. And from all of the nations of the world God called
God was patient with them, but finally he was forced people to become a holy nation in the church. We
to keep his promise to punish them. Israel went into are living in an unholy nation, the USA (or Canada, or
exile in Babylon. Mexico, or Pakistan or Peru, or Malawi), but we are
to live as a holy nation, God’s people, the followers
God send them into exile, but even then, God was of Jesus Christ, the church.
with them. He rescued faithful Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego from the fiery furnace. He rescued We are not living in the fullness of the Kingdom of
faithful Daniel from the lion’s den. He pointed them God. One day King Jesus will return and reign over
to a hopeful future, a time of salvation and resurrec- the earth, and our time of exile will end. In the mean-
tion and restoration. Eventually they returned from time, the church are the people of God living in exile.
exile, rebuilt their temple and rejected idol worship. So how are we to live?
But even after the return from exile, they failed to be
a very good light to the nations. Israel the nation did ”Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to
not faithfully fulfill their mission. abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against
your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans
However, God had an even greater plan all along. that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they
Faithful God would do what faithless Israel failed to may see your good deeds and glorify God on the
do. He sent His son. Jesus pointed people to the day he visits us.
true ways of God. Jesus prepared the way for the
coming kingdom of God to come to earth. Jesus Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every hu-
opened the way to salvation for all people from eve- man authority: whether to the emperor, as the su-
ry nation. Jesus made his church to complete the preme authority, or to governors, who are sent by
work that Israel was intended to do but failed to him to punish those who do wrong and to commend
complete. those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing
(Continued on page 4)

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord (cont.)

(Continued from page 3) there have been times when our morality was more
good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish shaped by God’s word than it is today. But again, let
people. Live as free people, but do not use your free- me remind us that we belong to Jesus Christ. We are
dom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s disciples of Jesus and our primary allegiance is to
slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the him.
family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” (I
Peter 2:11-17) If the US were to turn fully communist tomorrow, we
are still to live as Christians.
We, the church, are to live as good and godly people
in exile in a godless world. This is true… If the US were to collapse tomorrow, and we were
taken over by the Russians or Chinese, we are still to
Whether we have a president who is favorable to live as Christians. Jesus is our Lord and King and our
God or opposed to God. loyalty is to him.

Whether we have a judiciary that is favorable to God We should still pray for our nation and leaders. We
or opposed to God. should still attempt to influence the people around
us to do good and follow God’s word. But our ulti-
Whether we have a legislature that is favorable to mate goal is not to turn the US back to a Christian
God or opposed to God. nation, but rather to live as God’s people in exile on
earth and do what Christ has commissioned us to
Whether we have a governor, state legislature, that is do: Go into all the world and make disciples of all na-
favorable to God or opposed to God. tions, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all
of God’s word (Matthew 28:19-20).
Whether we have schools that are favorable to God
or opposed to God. On this Independence Day and every day which fol-
lows, let us declare our full dependence on God.
Whether we have a media that is favorable to God or
opposed to God. As Psalm 33 concludes:
We wait in hope for the Lord;
Whether the people who create movies, television, he is our help and our shield.
art, music, sports are favorable to God or opposed to In him our hearts rejoice,
God. for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
In the end none of those things matter in terms of even as we put our hope in you.
how we are to live as God’s people.

What does matter is that we are to be faithful to God Endnotes

no matter what others do. 1. Gallup Inc. (2021, March 29). U.S. Church Member-
ship Falls Below Majority for First Time. Gallup.com.
We are to be salt and light for this world, no matter https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-
what others do. membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx

We, the church, are to be a holy nation and royal

priesthood, no matter what others do.
About the Author: Jeff Fletcher pastors the Cool Spring
In some ways on this Independence Day I wish we Church of God in Browntown, VA. He works as a hospital
were living in a Christian nation. chaplain and is currently working on his doctorate degree
in Integrative Mental Health Care Chaplaincy at Vanderbilt
I wish that we were a nation full of genuine disciples University.
of Jesus and our nation made laws that were fully You can interact with him at [email protected]
consistent with God’s word. But we are not that, if we
ever were fully that (remember that for the first 87
years slavery was allowed and for the first 180 years
racial segregation was legal).

We have never been a true theocracy, ruled exclu-

sively according to God’s word and God’s laws, but

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Revelation: A Vision of Victory

By Steve Taylor (AZ)
The book of Revelation is hardly an ideal choice for Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he
pleasant bedtime reading. With its terrifying scenes who reads and those who hear the words of the
of conquest, war, famine, pandemics, earthquakes prophecy, and heed the things which are written in
and other natural disasters, it is unsettling to say the it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:1-3 NASB)
least. But, there is much more to the story of this
enigmatic book. If all we see are the horrific judg- A “revelation” is literally an unveiling; an uncovering.
ments of God on wicked humanity, we miss the Think of it in terms of going up to the attic of an old
main point. Revelation is ultimately not about seals, home, and finding a large mound of objects covered
trumpets, and bowls, but rather a great vision of vic- over with old blankets. You remove the blankets,
tory. The powerful, overriding theme is that God di- uncovering and unveiling these objects, and are
rectly intervenes in the disaster of human rule and shocked to find some valuable artwork, books, and
government and makes all that is wrong right. treasures. The book of Revelation is the uncovering
Those who persevere and overcome in and through of the dramatic events that result in Jesus being the
Christ share in the ultimate victory. What could be ultimate victor, to the glory of God!
more positive and reassuring? A little background
helps us see why Revelation is precisely what we It is “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
need to focus on today. Him to show to His bond-servants.” The book of
Revelation is none other than a precious gift from
The first-century church was in crisis. Some believ- God our Father, to His beloved Son Jesus, to us His
ers were dying spiritually, while others were being people. It is the gift of victory to encourage us to
pressured to compromise with their pervasive pa- persevere until faith is fully sight.
gan society. An immoral culture was literally seduc-
ing many believers. An epic battle was raging, and These are “The things which must soon take place.”
the followers of Christ appeared to be losing. Although over two thousand years separate us from
the original Revelation vision, the sequence of
Consigned to a lonely life of exile on a tiny island in events began then and stretch down to us today,
the Aegean Sea, the sole surviving apostle of Jesus even as we await the full consummation.
must surely have been perplexed and deeply trou-
bled concerning the fate of the fledgling church of John, we are told in verse two, was to write down all
his Lord Jesus. The explosive birth of the church at that he saw, which sheds light on some of the diffi-
Pentecost was a fading memory, its impact ap- culty in understanding this perplexing book. If a first
peared to now be marginalized, and its message century man witnessed the technology and warfare
was in danger of compromise, as he alarmingly of today, how would he describe it? Words and
warned of in such passages as 1 John 4:1-3. phrases such as “fire and sulphur,” “brimstone,” and
“the sound of their wings was like the sound of char-
Current circumstances seem little different than iots, of many horses rushing to battle,” would be the
what the apostle John witnessed in the first century. best verbiage to describe such scenes.
A crisis of faith seems evident today. Church at-
tendance has generally been in decline for several According to verse three, we are blessed in reading,
decades in this country and elsewhere. A young hearing, and heeding the words describing the Reve-
generation declares themselves to be “nones” in lation. Someone has humorously pointed out that
terms of church and denominational affiliation. the word “understand” isn’t included. The motivation
Many who left the church during the pandemic lock- prompting our diligent attention to these words is
downs have apparently chosen not to return. In this that “the time is near.” The full consummation is yet
post-modern, post-Christian age, biblical values and future even to us, but the “launch sequence” was
morals are ridiculed, ignored, and viciously op- initiated in John’s day and continues even now. In-
posed. What is to become of the church that Jesus sight and understanding come as we are continually
confidently declared, “the gates of Hades will not attentive.
overpower it” (Matthew 16:18)? The great vision of
victory we see in the book of Revelation assures The apostle John writes these words (verse 4) to
and reassures us of the ultimate outcome. seven literal churches in a specific region, which is
today the far western area of modern Turkey. These
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him were seven unique churches located in seven cities
to show to His bond-servants, the things which of varying size, culture, climate, and challenges. The
must soon take place; and He sent and communi- number “7,” a number frequently used in Revelation,
cated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who is an indivisible and complete number, associated
testified to the word of God and to the testimony of (Continued on page 6)

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Revelation: A Vision of Victory (cont.)

(Continued from page 5) readily called to mind an important prophecy in

with the activity and presence of God. We consider Daniel 7:13-14 NASB - “And behold, with the clouds
this all-inclusive number to indicate here that these of heaven one like a son of man was coming, And
are seven messages that apply in some way or He came up to the Ancient of Days And was pre-
ways to every church in every location in every age. sented before Him. And to Him was given dominion,
These are messages to us today as much as to glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations
those churches then. and men of every language might serve Him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not
John is the human author of Revelation, but ulti- pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not
mately this is a message from Jesus, first of all de- be destroyed.”
scribed as “the faithful witness.” If we only focus on
the “eschatological events” of Revelation, we can This one destined to be the ruler of rulers has also
easily miss the wonderful descriptions of Jesus given Himself fully to be the ruler of our hearts and
there. It is, after all, “the revelation of Jesus lives: “To Him who loves us and released us from
Christ” (verse 1), and some of the best Christology our sins by His blood” (verse 5). The word,
anywhere is found here. The gospels appear to be “released,” is especially meaningful. We were im-
among the best places to discover more about Je- prisoned on death row, with no hope of parole or
sus, but we miss the great picture of the resurrected pardon. Jesus “posted bail,” secured our pardon,
and triumphant Jesus if we neglect what Revelation and unlocked the door of our cell to freely and forev-
reveals. er release us. This He did for those willing to accept;
to “sign on the line” through deliberate decision.
Jesus is called, “The faithful witness,” which He Some would use this phrase, “who loves us and re-
confirmed by His own words in the gospel of John - leased us from our sins by His blood,” to promote
“the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is universalism: salvation of all regardless of choice. It
something He sees the Father doing; for whatever is important to be clear: salvation is not automatic.
the Father does, these things the Son also does in Intentional choice is imperative and essential. Acts
like manner.” (John 5:19 NASB). We might add that 2:38 and John 3:3,5, among many other verses,
the faithful witness calls His people to be faithful clearly indicate that personal choice is prerequisite
witnesses: “you shall be My witnesses both in Jeru- to the promise of forgiveness, and the hope of
salem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to God’s promises in Christ.
the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NASB)
To those who have made the deliberate decision to
Jesus is called, “the firstborn of the dead.” Some accept the release from our sins by His blood, “He
would be quick to take exception with this state- has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God
ment in that Elijah, Elisha, and even Jesus Himself and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion
had previously raised others from the dead. But, no forever and ever. Amen.” (verse 6). Passages such
one else is the firstborn of the dead to immortality. as 1 Peter 2:4-10 remind us that Jesus has made us
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the into His church, but that church serves the larger
first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Corinthians purpose of His kingdom. The church is not an end in
15:20 NASB). Because of this great fact, it can be itself; it is the local kingdom project designed to de-
said that Jesus is first, to be followed by us a little clare and demonstrate this wider priority. It also has
later. a priestly function, according to the pattern of Jesus
described in passages such as Hebrews 3.
Jesus is also called “the ruler of the kings of the
earth.” This is a fact either tacitly ignored or vehe- Jesus has made us to be a kingdom, in training and
mently rejected by those in the halls of power of preparation to rule the world with Him at His return.
world governments. We are reminded that “The We are the government in waiting; His “cabinet” in
kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers preparation. So, we might say that under Jesus we
take counsel together against the LORD and against will develop a good environmental policy, fair tax
His anointed” (Psalm 2:2 NASB) The currently re- structure, and equal rights, among other things. We
jected ruler is one day destined to rule the rulers - a are officials in a good and fair government; the best
truth that does not sit well with those bent of keep- the world will ever see! And it all starts with Jesus’
ing their power. return.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus’ favorite go-to de-

scription of Himself was “the Son of Man,” which (Continued on page 7)

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Revelation: A Vision of Victory (cont.)

(Continued from page 6) We need to be reminded of “him who loves us and

“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every has freed us from our sins by his blood” (verse 5). If
eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and nothing is done about our “sin problem,” then the
all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it rest of the story doesn’t matter! At least Jesus, “the
is to be. Amen.” (verse 7) firstborn of the dead,” wins, but we do not if he has
not freed us from our sins. Thankfully He has and
This is a “line in the sand” truth. Many reject and He does!
ridicule the second coming of Jesus, like those de-
scribed in 2 Peter 3:3-4. It is either truth, or it is not. In the eyes of the world, most of us are the least
We adamantly declare that it is truth based on this likely people to be destined for greatness. But, “He
and many other affirming passages. “He” is coming; has made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God
Jesus Himself. “For the Lord Himself will descend and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
from heaven …” 1 Thessalonians 4:16. “He is com- and ever.” (verse 5). Rising from relative obscurity in
ing with the clouds.” Daniel 7:13 states, “I saw One the world today, we are destined be elevated with
like a son of man coming with the clouds of heav- our Lord Jesus to the heights of power and influ-
en.” Somehow “every eye will see Him.” While the ence in the age to come. Now that’s a reason to get
return of Jesus will be breaking news, it won’t re- out of bed in the morning!
quire CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, or any other news
network to cover it to fulfill this prophecy. He who is He is coming back in victory, although we don’t
now invisible will suddenly become visible in such a know the day not the hour (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44).
way that every person, in every location, and even As such, the watchword is the word “watch.” Be pre-
from every age (“even those who pierced Him”) will pared. Be diligent. Be persevering.
see Him. What a day that will be!
The daily newsfeed from modern media is rarely
“So it is to be. Amen” (verse 7). Let there be no good news. When was the last time there were
doubt: “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you headlines about a city with no murder, rapes, or vio-
into heaven, will come in just the same way as you lence? Instead, as the adage goes, “If it bleeds, it
have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11 leads.” Bad news is big news, and there is plenty of
NASB) As His ascension was reliably witnessed and it in a rapidly degenerating world.
verified, the promise of His second coming is thus
well-established. The people of God need good news to bolster faith
and hope, and the vision of victory in Revelation
The book of Revelation is “The revelation of Jesus abundantly provides that. As you try to make some
Christ, which God gave Him to show to his bond- sense of pre-, mid-, or post-tribulation rapture, the
servants” (Revelation 1:1). This is a personal letter specific meaning of each of the judgments of
of information and encouragement from Jesus to “sevens,” be careful not to lose the important per-
us. To neglect it would be a serious mistake. Sure, spective of the great vision of victory that Jesus is
there are parts of it that are perplexing and confus- returning, and that the kingdom of God is to be firm-
ing, but if we fail to see the abundantly clear vision ly and forever established. You just might find the
of victory, we’ve missed the important big picture. book of Revelation more uplifting than you imagined
Revelation is about “the things which must soon before.
take place… for the time is near.” (verses 1, 3).
There is a sense of urgency here that only increases About the Author: Steve Taylor is the pastor of Lakeshore
with the passing of time. As such, a study of Revela- Bible Church in Tempe, AZ, and has served as a pastor
tion should shake us out of any complacency we for over 40 years. He is author of 2 books, “I Can See It
might have. Now: Experiencing Tomorrow’s Reality Today,” and “Hope
for Uncertain Times.” Both books are available for pur-
chase on Amazon.
We need to be drawn again to the victorious Jesus,
“the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and You can interact with him at [email protected]
the ruler of kings on earth.” We need to more clearly
see and hear Him whose words are trustworthy and
true. This “firstborn of the dead” is our only hope out
of the universal problem of death. And it is Jesus
who has been put in charge of the governments of
the world, awaiting that time in which He will exer-
cise full authority!

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Love is a Verb (part 2): What Do You Think?

By Dr. G. Clell France (WA)
In my years of private practice as a clinical psy- internal conversation to move in a more positive
chologist, clients usually came to me for help in re- direction? Unfortunately, we can’t successfully di-
lationships—marriage, family, work. And while many rect ourselves to “feel” a certain way. We can’t simp-
relationship challenges can be understood in terms ly “wish” ourselves into a better mood. However, we
of behavior—what we do and say—those challenges can change our behavior. And, since thinking is a
often begin with a thought. We’ve all heard the ex- form of behavior, we can change our thinking to re-
pression “I think, therefore I am”—an assertion place an old, negative thought with a new, positive
made in the 17th century by René Descartes. How- one.
ever, I suggest a more useful arrangement of the
phrase is “I am, therefore I think.” Why? Because The first step is to make the decision to change—to
thinking is something we all do every day. It’s uni- take responsibility for pulling ourselves out of a neg-
versal. It’s part of being human. Ultimately our be- ative spiral. This is not as easy as it sounds. We of-
havior is based on choices, and those choices al- ten blame our history and feel at the mercy of it. It
ways begin with thinking. can become a fixation. However, the past is
past. It’s true that for some people confronting past
Here, I’d like to introduce an important concept— trauma is therapeutic. However, in most cases, fo-
commonplace in clinical psychology, but less appar- cusing on the present and the future is more power-
ent to the casual observer. Thinking is behavior. Re- ful. Sadly, no one from our past will magically ap-
member the old saying, “Be careful what you wish pear to make us well. We are ultimately in charge of
for, for you shall surely get it.” In a broad sense, over ourselves, and our internal conversation. While this
a lifetime, thinking and belief direct your path. Like- “rescripting” can be challenging, the results are
wise, on a day-to-day basis, what you choose to worth it. We each have the capacity to make a posi-
think also has a profound impact—on how you feel tive change! To begin, move away from abstract
inside. While most of us consider “thinking” to be a thinking to specifics. Identify a single negative
passive, mental process, it is actually more akin to thought pattern and replace it with a positive one.
physical activity. It is something we do. It is behav- It’s like going to the gym and lifting weights. Start
ior, just “internal” instead of “external.” And, it has small and work your way up. The most important
an impact on whoever engages with the behavior— step is getting yourself to the gym in the first place!
in this case, you!
How does scripture apply? Prov 23:7 (KJV) says
For example, if you are planning a vacation and “For, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” This
“thinking” of the entertaining and interesting things can be either positive or negative. It’s not unusual
you plan to do, you will often experience positive for us to internally rehearse negative “self-talk”–
anticipation, excitement, and generally good feel- repeating negative things we may have been told,
ings. This positive thinking literally changes your often in childhood. When a child is called dumb, stu-
biology, stimulates the release of endorphins and pid, clumsy, or ignorant, they internalize the mes-
dopamine in your brain, enhances your energy level sage. Children have limited defenses against such
and improves your disposition. On the other hand, if negative input, and as adults they often grapple with
you dwell on a traumatic event in your past, you will the emotional challenges that result. They are less
often experience negative feelings like melancholy, effective, less fulfilled, less happy—often unable to
anxiety, and a depressed energy level. These nega- fully recover from such early abuse. Public shaming
tive feelings are also the result of a shift in your by parents, demeaning comments, anger and intimi-
brain chemistry. What you choose to think literally dation all leave a scar. This behavior by parents, sib-
determines how you feel—for good or ill. lings or caregivers is often a “repeat” of abuse they
were subjected to as a child. It’s like the old saying
In fact, we all “think” in a rambling internal conversa- “hurt people, hurt people.” So, how do “hurt people”
tion all the time. (Some of us, myself included, occa- practice the biblical principle of “love your neighbor”
sionally verbalize this internal conversation when as yourself? It’s not easy! A person with low self-
alone, and if overheard we’re told we “talk to our- esteem has difficulty commanding the respect of
selves”). Sometimes this internal conversation is others. Yet, we only respond to positive input from
conscious and self-directed, like “I need to find a those we respect. It is a catch-22.
hammer to repair this door.” Other times, it’s uncon-
scious and knee-jerk, like “I broke the door, I can’t As a child, I was admonished, “don’t think of your-
believe how stupid I am!” Both conversations have self more highly than you ought!” As an adult I ques-
an impact. The question is, how do we manage our (Continued on page 9)

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Love is a Verb (cont.)

(Continued from page 8) gested a treatment plan combining behavioral

tioned this statement. Yes, it is intended to instill changes, positive thinking and self-acknowledge-
humility, a Christian virtue, yet I often wondered who ment. This included making a list of things she was
determines the meaning of “ought.” Had I, as a child, grateful for, and articulating hopes and aspirations
exceeded an acceptable level of self-assurance, self for the future. I asked her to rank order the list, with
confidence, and self-reliance? Had I reached the lim- the most important at the top, and place it next to
it of “ought?” Decades later, in my psychological her morning cup of coffee. She then began each
counselling practice, I observed the negative results morning with a review and meditation on her new
of “ought” manifested in a variety of debilitating “hopes and aspirations.” While this list was not her
conditions in my patients, including insecurity, self- sole therapeutic exercise, I noticed over many
doubt, and low self-esteem. I think a better re- weeks that her outlook began to improve. Sometime
wording of the statement would be, “Be sure to think later, after her treatment had concluded, I encoun-
of yourself every bit as highly as you ought!” tered her in the post office pleasantly engaged in
conversation with friends. When we spoke, she re-
In Matt 5:5 (KJV), we read “Blessed are the meek.” ported she was feeling better, her son had applied
This statement has sometimes been employed to to college, and she had re-engaged in her artistic
reduce conflict in contentious discussions and disa- pursuits. She had successfully moved in a more
greements. I prefer the translation of the Aramaic positive direction. The key to her success was her
word as “gentle” instead of “meek” (NASB, 1977). In sustained effort, over many months, and her ongo-
my view, Jesus was not “meek”—defined in the dic- ing practice of replacing negative thinking with posi-
tionary as mild, compliant, and submissive. Jesus tive thinking.
was gentle but strong. He did not shy away from
verbal jousting, confrontation, and “speaking truth The way our thinking impacts both our relation-
to power.” For example, in Matt 23:27, Jesus de- ships and our day-to-day communications is sug-
nounces his adversaries in a very un-meek way with gested in Luke 6:45. (NIV) “The good man brings
the proclamation “Woe unto you, scribes and Phari- good things out of the good stored up in his heart,
sees, hypocrites!” While it’s true a soft answer turns and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil
away wrath, as in Prov 15:1 (KJV), when confronted stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his
it is still most effective to respond firmly yet gently. heart his mouth speaks.” From infancy, we learn to
Many people have internalized the limits of “ought” negotiate, using both positive and negative respons-
to become obsequious, passive, humble and “meek” es, and how to seamlessly shift to the negative side
at the expense of gently maintaining their posi- when necessary. Usually, we aren’t even aware of
tion in the course of a challenging discussion. when we make the shift. If challenged on engaging
in negative behavior, we often fall back on the sig-
Over the years in my counselling practice I noticed nificance of the issue: “I’m angry because this is im-
my therapeutic solutions were similar for many peo- portant!” Unfortunately, most of us go through life
ple. Most of us need the positive acceptance of oth- relying on both positive and negative responses
ers, as well as positive feedback we can supply to without really making a distinction between the
ourselves—supporting the development of self- two.
acceptance and self-love. We all need the “love that
does not fail.” And although each client’s need for For example, as a child, I recall learning negative
love is universal, the solution for every person was thinking when playing games with my friends.
unique. Every person has a different history and po- Things generally went well, but not always. There
tential, and each treatment plan was completely in- were disagreements, even confrontations. We is-
dividualized. sued ultimatums like, “If we can’t play my game, I
won’t like you anymore.” Or, “I want to play this
For example, a woman came to my office seeking game, or I’ll go home.” One of us might protest or
help for depression. She was a recognized local art- whine, and only rarely did the conflicts become
ist and her husband had recently passed away. Her physical. On one occasion, I recall “learning to be
son was having challenges, and his future was un- offended.” A playmate made a disparaging remark,
certain. She lost interest in her art career and felt but I ignored him. A friend nudged me and said, “If
her life was in serious disarray. Her thinking—her someone said that to me, it would make me mad!” I
“internal behavior”—had deteriorated significantly. reconsidered and went nose-to-nose to let the of-
And yet, she made an internal decision she wanted fender know “you better not talk to me that way!” I
to change. After several counselling sessions, I sug- (Continued on page 10)

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Love is a Verb (cont.)

(Continued from page 9) the best side, the positive side, of these universal
was learning an internal dialogue, a way of thinking principles. I believe this is the best possible way to
that produced a negative intimidating behavior live your life!
called “righteous indignation.”
About the Author: Dr. G. Clell France is an elder in the
So, how did we arrive at such an untenable position? Wenatchee Church of God (Wenatchee, WA) and attend-
We had a very experienced and persistent tutor. Our ed Oregon Bible College. After OBC Clell obtained a doc-
culture! And yet, as noted in Hebrews 5:14 torate in clinical psychology and served as director of the
(paraphrased) Paul indicated that to become a ma- Chelan-Douglas County mental health center for 12 years,
then entered into three decades of private practice. His
ture Christian, one would need, by constant use, to professional career focused on bringing biblical princi-
learn to distinguish good from evil—that is, to distin- ples to the practice of clinical psychology.
guish positive from negative behavior. Most of us
do not realize using negative behavior is the result You can interact with him at [email protected].
of “just learning how to get along,” as taught by our
culture. If challenged on such negative behavior, we
often respond, “I know, but that’s just the way I am.”
Our negative cultural conditioning is difficult to CHURCH OF GOD ARCHIVES PROJECT
counter. It requires commitment and vigilance. As we are scanning our collection, we are seeking other
material to add. If you have books, tracts, articles,
In Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV), Paul lists several ways to sermons, writing, or publications, related to the
replace negative thinking with positive thinking. He Church of God, please email us.
writes “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentle- These are treasures that should not be lost.
ness and self-control. Against such things there is
Send email to: [email protected]
no law.” Paul expressed similar thoughts in his let-
ter to the Philippians. (Paraphrased from Phil 4:8,
NIV) “Finally, brothers, whatsoever is true, noble, View the Digital Archives at
right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praisewor- www.coggc.org
thy, think about such things.” If we think “such
things,” replacing negative thoughts with positive
thoughts, we are not only moving in a more positive Send your feedback
direction, we are incorporating fundamental biblical
teaching into our lives. Enjoying the RESTITUTION HERALD? Let us know!

Want to see a topic addressed? Let us know!

CONCLUSION
Email us at [email protected]
The Bible contains many universal human princi-
ples. One of these is that behaving in a way that
adds value to others enhances positive, loving rela-
tionships; and behavior that removes value from THE RESTITUTION HERALD
VOLUME 110 NUMBER 4—Oct-Dec 2021 ©2021
others degrades and erodes those relationships.
This biblical principle includes our internal behavior, Proofreader: Robert Jones
our internal conversation, which is thinking. Is it Address editorial correspondence to: RESTITUTION HERALD,
2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253
positive, or is it negative? The Bible says “as a per-
son thinks in their heart” so shall they become, and Permissions: Atlanta Bible College/Church of God General Confer-
that out of the abundance of our inner thoughts, we ence grants permission for any original article (not a reprint) to be
photocopied or duplicated for use without change, provided the
relate to others. What we think ultimately deter- material is distributed free and the copies indicate the name of the
mines our behavior. In 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV) Paul publication and the name of Atlanta Bible College/Church of God
notes the positive results for those who follow the General Conference, and our mailing address.
principle of adding value by stating “Love never THE RESTITUTION HERALD is owned and published by the Church of
fails.” To add value, to praise, to give credit, and to God General Conference, a nonprofit Christian corporation located
accept, “is as good as it gets.” The opposite of this at 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253. THE HER-
ALD is mailed four times a year.
principle is also true. To devalue, to criticize, to with-
hold support, and to reject “is as bad as it gets.” The Authors and books are sometimes promoted in THE RESTITUTION
best advice I know of is in the Bible: Love God and HERALD. We believe these contain items of interest to our read-
ers. This does not necessarily mean they exactly reflect the state-
love your neighbor. To follow this advice puts us on ment of faith on page 16.

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Christology and the Angel of the Lord (Part 1)

By John Cunningham (U.K.)
Translation from the NKJV except where indicated in the text. The gospels record the activity of angels during the
ministry of Jesus. Angels ministered to Him after
The angel of the Lord is a mysterious being found the temptation in the wilderness (Matt 4:11, Mark
throughout the Old Testament. We first meet him in 1:13) and during His agony in the garden of Geth-
the patriarchal narratives of the book of Genesis. He semane (Matt 26:53; Luke 22:43). The passages
appeared to Hagar in the wilderness (Gen 16:7-13), which bear the most resemblance to the Old Testa-
and to Abraham when he was preparing to sacrifice ment theophanies are those concerning the an-
his son Isaac (Gen 22:11-13). Jacob wrestled with nouncements of the supernatural births of Jesus
the angel of the Lord all night (Gen 32:24-30, Hos and John the Baptist in Matthew and Luke. The an-
12:2-6). He spoke to Moses in the burning bush and gel of the Lord appears to Joseph after Jesus has
guided the Israelites in their flight from Egypt (Ex 3:1 been conceived (Matt 1:20). Previously he had ap-
-8; 14:19-20; 23:20-23). Later he confronted Balaam peared to Zechariah the father of John the Baptist
as he prepared to go to Moab to curse Israel (Num and is explicitly named Gabriel. It is clear that there
22:22-35). Joshua encountered him just before the is no way of making any identification here between
conquest of Jericho (Josh 5:13-15), and he ap- the angel of the Lord and Christ, and if we cannot
peared to Gideon (Jud 6:11-24) and Samson's par- make it here, why should we make it anywhere else?
ents (Jud 13:3-23) during the period of the judges.
The letters of the New Testament plainly show that
The unusual feature of the narratives concerning angels are subordinate to Christ. God has "raised
the angel of the Lord is that he sometimes speaks Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand
of God in the third person, clearly indicating that he in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
is His messenger and at other times speaks in the power and might and dominion and every name that
first person as if he were God Himself. We are left is named not only in this age but also in that which
with the distinct impression that there are two per- is to come" (Eph 1:20-21). Christ "has gone into
sonalities involved, both of whom are God. heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and
authorities and powers having been made subject
It is perhaps not surprising that Trinitarians have to Him." (I Pet 3:22). "By Him all things were created
seized upon these texts to prove that the Lord Je- that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and
sus Christ was fully and personally active in Old invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principali-
Testament times. A long line of expositors begin- ties or powers. All things were created through Him
ning with Justin Martyr in the second century has and for Him." (Col 1:16) "In Him dwells all the full-
claimed that the angel is Christ. Justin was followed ness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in
by Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Novatian, Hilary Him who is the head of all principality and pow-
of Poitiers, and, in more modern times, by the re- er."(Col 2:9-10)
formers, Hengstenberg and Liddon in the nineteenth
century. So important is the angel-Christ identifica- These texts are sufficient to demonstrate that New
tion that denial of it has been regarded as heresy by Testament writers did not believe that Christ was an
its advocates. angel, but the writer to the Hebrews is even more
decisive. Jesus has "become so much better than
In the light of such dogmatism, it is rather surprising the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a
how little proof is offered. The New Testament as more excellent name than they." (Heb 1:4) God nev-
we will see does not make the connection between er declared to any angel "You are My Son, today I
Christ and the angel of the Lord anywhere. Malachi have I begotten you" or "Sit at My right hand till I
3:1 is sometimes cited as proof since Christ is here make your enemies your footstool" (Heb 1:5, 13). At
called "the messenger (i.e., angel) of the covenant." the second coming of Christ angels will worship
The Hebrew word malak means messenger and is Him. "But when He again brings the firstborn into
used in the Old Testament of any messenger, the world He says, 'Let all the angels of God worship
whether human or supernatural. It is used of the Him.'" It is true that for a time Jesus was made a
messengers of Jacob (Gen 32:3), David (II Sam little lower than the angels (Heb 2:9) but the admin-
11:4), Jephthah (Jud 11:12-14) and of the spies sent istration of the age to come will not be in the hands
out by Joshua (Josh 6:25). The priest is called the of angels but of Christ "For He has not put the world
messenger of the Lord of Hosts (Mal 2:7). It is clear to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels,
therefore that the word malak has its ordinary but one testified in a certain place, saying, 'What is
meaning here and cannot be pressed to mean that man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man
Christ was the angel of the Lord in the texts we have that You take care of him? You made him a little
mentioned.
(Continued on page 12)

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Christology and the Angel of the Lord (cont.)

(Continued from page 11) spoken to Moses and the fathers in the wilderness
lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and bluntly told them that they had "received the law
and honour, and set him over the works of your by the direction of angels and have not kept it" (Acts
hands. You have put all things in subjection under 7:38,53).
his feet.' For in that He put all in subjection under
him, He left nothing that is not put under him. (Heb We will now look at a number of Old Testament pas-
2:5-8) sages about the angel of the Lord to see what we
can learn from them. It will be important for our in-
What, then, is the significance of the angel of the vestigation of this and other passages to notice par-
Lord? Does the New Testament throw any light on ticularly when God is the speaker and when He is
the subject? spoken about and also to pay attention to the uses
of the second person singular and plural. The latter
It is a commonplace doctrine of the New Testament point is totally lost in modern English usage. "You"
that God is invisible. Jesus said speaking to the stands for both singular and plural, and therefore
Jews, "You have neither heard His voice at any time modern translations of the Bible are not at all suita-
nor seen His shape." (John 5:37) Paul wrote that ble at this point. Our quotations will therefore be
"since the creation of the world His invisible attrib- taken from the American Standard Version which
utes are clearly seen, being understood by the renders the second person singular as "thou" and
things that are made, even His eternal power and the plural as "you". This version also renders the di-
Godhead." (Rom 1:20). Jesus is "the image of the vine name as Jehovah, and this will help us to see
invisible God" (Col 1:15) The writer to the Hebrews the distinctions which are brought out in the text.
says that Moses "forsook Egypt not fearing the
wrath of the king for he endured as seeing Him who We begin in Genesis 16. Hagar has fled from Sarah
is invisible." (Heb 11:27). Paul describes God as "the and found herself in the wilderness. "And the angel
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the
Lord of lords, who alone has immortality dwelling in wilderness in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar,
unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or Sarai's handmaid, whence camest thou? and whith-
can see, to whom be honour and everlasting pow- er goest thou? And she said, I am fleeing from the
er." (I Tim 6:15-16). face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of Jehovah
said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit
These texts, and particularly the last one, rule out thyself under her hands. And the angel of Jehovah
the possibility that the angel of the Lord can possi- said unto her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it
bly be a member of the Godhead. He has been seen shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel
on many occasions, and therefore is not invisible. of Jehovah said unto her, Behold thou art with child,
Since he is not God Himself, nor an appearance of and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name
Jesus Christ, we are driven back to the only conclu- Ishmael, because Jehovah hath heard thy afflic-
sion possible that the angel of the Lord really was tion...And she called the name of Jehovah that
an angel, one of the class of supernatural beings spake unto her, Thou art a God that Seeth." The an-
employed to carry out the will of the invisible God. gel who speaks to Hagar speaks as Jehovah- "I will
multiply thy seed." - and yet maintains a separate
We will now look at four New Testament passages identity from Jehovah, and this will be found to be
which support that contention. Hebrews 13:2 says characteristic of many of the angel of the Lord pas-
"Do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing sages in the Old Testament.
some have unwittingly entertained angels." The writ-
er may have several incidents in mind. Gideon and Genesis 18 and 19 does not use the term angel of
Manoah, the father of Samson, were both visited by the Lord, but it does illustrate perfectly the princi-
the angel of the Lord whom they apparently did not ples we wish to emphasize.
recognize as such. Both "entertained angels una-
wares " and were alarmed to discover that they had The account opens with a visitation to Abraham as
been speaking to angels. (Jgs 6:11ff; Jude 13) he sat in the door of his tent. "And Jehovah ap-
peared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in
The remaining three passages concern the role the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted up
played by angels in the giving of the law. Paul says his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over
that the law was "appointed through angels by the against him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet
hand of a mediator" (Gal 3:19). Hebrews 2:2 refers them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the
to the law as the "word spoken by angels". Stephen earth and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in
reminded the judges at his trial that an angel had (Continued on page 13)

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Christology and the Angel of the Lord (cont.)

(Continued from page 12) Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of
thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy serv- the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the
ant: let now a little water be fetched and wash your bush burned with fire, and the bush was not con-
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree...". Jehovah sumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and
then appears to Abraham in the form of three men, see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And
and Abraham greets them with the hospitality which when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God
was customary, offering them food and rest. Note called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and
that he greets them as adonai. Abraham begins by said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I." (Exod
using the singular form of address, recognizing the 3:2-4) The angel now speaks to Moses in the first
pre-eminence of one of the visitors before reverting person as God. "I am the God of thy father, the God
to the plural form of address. of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Ja-
cob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to
The meal completed, the men ask where Sarah is look upon God." (verse 6)
(verse 9). One of the visitors then begins to speak
as Jehovah. "I will certainly return unto thee when The most significant mention of the angel of the
the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife Lord in Exodus occurs in Chapter 23:20-23. "Behold,
shall have a son." "Jehovah said unto Abraham, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a sure- and to bring thee into the place which I have pre-
ty bear a child, who am old. Is anything too hard for pared. Take ye heed before him, and hearken unto
Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon
when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall your transgression: for My Name is in him. But if
have a son." (verses 13-14). thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all
that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine ene-
In verse 16 the visitors are again called men as they mies and an adversary unto thine adversaries." The
turn towards Sodom. At this point Jehovah reveals voice of the angel is the voice of God. God's name is
to Abraham His purpose regarding that city. in him, which means that he acts with the full au-
"Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, thority of God.
and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down
now, and see whether they have done altogether The twentieth chapter of Exodus records the giving
according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; of the Ten Commandments to Israel by Jehovah.
and if not, I will know." (verse 20) Two of the men The people are so frightened at hearing the words
now go to Sodom while Abraham intercedes with of God that they plead with Moses that God should
Jehovah for the safety of the righteous living there. not speak to them anymore. (Exod 20:19) Stephen
recalls this incident during his trial recorded in the
Chapter 19 opens with the arrival in Sodom of the seventh chapter of Acts. "This is he (i.e. Moses) that
two men, and we learn for the first time that they are was in the church in the wilderness with the angel
angels. "And the two angels came to Sodom at that spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our
even." The two angels now begin to assume to role fathers; who received living oracles to give unto us."
of Jehovah taken by their companion in chapter 18. The angel spoke to both Moses and the people. The
Their role as messengers of Jehovah appears in only occasion in which the people heard a divine
verse 13. "We will destroy this place because the cry voice was during the giving of the Ten Command-
of them is waxed great before Jehovah; and Jeho- ments. On the authority of scripture, therefore, we
vah hath sent us to destroy it". But in verses 18 and can say that the speaker in Exodus 20 was an angel.
19 Lot addresses the men as if they were God using From the same text in Acts we can say that the be-
the singular form. "And Lot said unto them, Oh, not ing who spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai was also an
so, my lord: behold now, thy servant hath found fa- angel. This is true also of the incident recorded in
vor in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy loving- chapters 33 and 34 of Exodus when Moses was
kindness which thou hast showed unto me in saving shown the glory of God.
my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest
evil overtake me, and I die: behold now, this city is About the Author: John Cunningham is a native of Northern Ire-
near to flee unto, and it is a little one; Oh let me es- land. He learned about the Church of God from Sir Anthony Buz-
zard in 1981 and was baptized in the Rock River in Illinois in
cape thither and my soul shall live." Speaking now in 1983. He attended several Theological Conferences and gave a
the first person as God, one of the angels replies, number of talks. He is a retired accountant. He is a member of
"See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing." the Scattered Brethren Network, as there are no church mem-
bers in the immediate vicinity as yet.
The angel of the Lord features prominently in the You can Interact with him at [email protected]
narrative of the book of Exodus. "And the angel of

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”
THEY STILL SPEAK
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when
God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4

Jesus Demands Our Attention!

By Harry Sheets (1956)
The wise men worshiped Him. Herod sought His life. the necessary elements, for it was all that was needed to
How do you feel about Jesus? maintain life and health. Israel did not need meat, alt-
hough the people asked for it and received it to prove
At this season of the year our minds wander back in time that God was capable of supplying all needs. Some re-
to the birth of Jesus in the little town of Bethlehem. No ceived the manna joyfully, while others grumbled and
one can read the simple but beautiful story of Jesus’ birth were dissatisfied with what God gave them.
as recorded in Luke 2:1-20 without feeling something tug
at his heart. No one can read this record and remain un- The situation did not change when God gave the world
moved. the true manna, the bread of life. Some receive Him glad-
ly, others because they feel they must, and still others
The strange power that Jesus was to exert on the world reject Him. Israel, in a foodless desert could see the ne-
was evident that first day of His birth. Angels sang of His cessity of gathering the manna. They had no other choice
glory; the shepherds worshiped Him, and Jesus’ parents if they were to live. There is no other bread of life for us
wondered about the strange happenings. Eight days later, today. We may think we can live on the teachings and
when in the temple, Simeon took the babe in his arms examples of other men, but Peter, standing before the
and praised God for letting him live to see God’s salvation rulers of Israel, said: “Neither is there salvation in any
for the world. Simeon said: “Mine eyes have seen thy sal- other: for there is none other name under heaven given
vation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy
people Israel. … Behold, this child is set for the fall and We are as dependent upon Jesus for life as Israel was
rising again of Israel; and a sign which shall be spoken dependent upon manna in the wilderness. Without man-
against … that the thoughts of many hearts may be re- na, Israel would have starved to death. Without Christ to
vealed” (Luke 2:30-32, 34, 35). nourish us, we face as certain a death. “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who-
Jesus has been revealing the thought of many hearts soever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever-
from that day to this. The wise men worshiped Him. Her- lasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to
od sought His life. A storm has raged about this person condemn the world; but that the world through him might
for nearly two thousand years. Some contended that He be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
had a devil, while others said He was filled with the Spirit he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
of God. To some, Jesus was an impostor and a blas- hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
phemer; to others, He was a prophet, while some boldly God” (John 3:16-18).
declared Him to be the Son of God. Jesus may be loved,
or He may be hated, but He is never ignored. We doubt As we approach Christmas, let us stop our mad rush, our
that anyone ever becomes so hardened in sin that he exchange of gifts, our revelry, for a short time to ponder
does not, in some sober moment, wonder what Jesus will the reason for Christmas. Let us praise God for His gift to
say when He returns. us. More than a baby was born into the world. There was
born a new way of living, a way that would lift man above
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David. This was himself, an avenue of approach to God. There came into
appropriate, for Jesus was the legal heir to the throne of the world a power that has disturbed the world from that
David. Both Joseph and Mary were of the royal line of day to this. Man will never know rest again until Jesus is
Israel. In addition to this, God had given the throne to crowned king in every heart. Then the world will have the
Him. Hear the words of the angel Gabriel as he an- peace promised by the angels as they sang to the shep-
nounced the birth of Jesus: “He shall be great, and shall herds.
be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall Restitution Herald Dec. 1956, Vol. 46 No. 8, pp. 3, 15
rule over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom
there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). In spite of this posi-
tive statement, there is still disagreement about the fu- The Christ of Christmas
ture position of Jesus. Jesus is ever the controversial By Emory Macy (1956)
figure. Jesus was born the Saviour. (Luke 2:11.)
Jesus was born the “Christ.” (Luke 2:11.)
Jesus was born in Bethlehem for another interesting rea- Jesus was born “the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35.)
son. The name “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.” Jesus was born “the king of the Jews.” (Matt. 2:2.)
From this city came “The bread of life.” Jesus was the Jesus was born to be God’s gift for man. (John 3:16.)
true manna sent from God. The first manna, that given in
the wilderness, must have been a complete food with all Restitution Herald Dec. 1956, Vol. 46 No. 8, pg. 5.

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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Peace On Earth Mine Eyes Have Seen

By Alva Huffer (1958) By Francis Burnett (1960)
“Joy to the world! The Lord is come,” is the trium- “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou
phant strain that echoes through church aisles and hast prepared before the face of all people; a light
lifts its choral harmony from home altars. Under to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people
the spell of the Christmas gladness, under the Israel” (Luke 2:30-32).
guidance of the star, we are happy with our neigh-
bors, our friends, and our children. There is a pulse Simeon, an elderly man, had been promised by the
of gladness in the world. Everyone feels it. Even Lord God that “he should not see death, before he
the most desolate and most forlorn acknowledge it had seen the Lord’s Christ.” As he held the child in
and are cheered. his arms, he said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy serv-
ant depart in peace.”
For unto us is born a Saviour, and His name is Je-
sus, and He shall save His people from their sins. Simeon fully realized the importance of the state-
Ages may yet pass before His reign of peace shall ment, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” He was
everywhere be established; but the day of His full one of several who believed the prophets and was
ascendancy over every island and continent is waiting for the Messiah.
speeding on, and the Christmas tide shall finally
come, when the star shall shine over an earth This was the Christ child. He, the babe, was the
swept clean and white, and from shore to shore, hope, the only hope, of the entire world. He was “a
under the complete sway of Him who bore our sins light” to the Gentiles—to us—and the “glory” of Isra-
in His own body on the tree, and who now sits at el. It would seem that all of Palestine would have
the right hand of God. been overflowing with travelers from all parts of
the world coming to seek the Saviour. But this was
Every day is Christmas! Christmas is not a day or a not so. Only a few miles away in the city of Jerusa-
season, but a condition of heart and mind. If we lem, we find that Herod and others had not heard
love neighbors as ourselves; if in our riches we are of Him. When they did find out, they sought to de-
poor in spirit, and in our poverty we are rich in stroy Him.
grace; if our charity vaunteth not itself, but suffer-
eth long, and is kind; if, when our brother asks for a The Christian world looks on Herod’s acts with
loaf, we give ourselves instead; if each day dawns contempt and scorn. But how much differently are
in opportunity, and sets in achievement, however people doing today? There are still those who
small; then every day is Christ’s day and Christmas would destroy the Christian faith; they would kill
is always near. Christ again if possible. Then there are those who
are indifferent and are not concerned about their
Restitution Herald Dec. 1958, Vol. 48 No. 5, pg. 7. salvation. “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he
shall save his people from their sins.”
Path to Peace Jesus was born that you and I might have salva-
By Rega Cramer McCarty (1958) tion. We have God’s Word as witness of that salva-
I wonder in what endless strife tion, but what are we doing about it?
The world would now be torn,
What hopelessness would weigh mankind Restitution Herald Dec. 1960, Vol. 50 No. 5, pg. 13.
If Christ had not been born?
After Christmas
I wonder what chaotic state By William Wachtel (1960)
The universe would know,
If Christ had not brought order After the tree is taken down, the ornaments packed, and
On that Christmas long ago? the gifts put away, many will think that the time of the
Christmas spirit is past, and that Christ may safely be
I wonder what the garbled pattern forgotten for another year. It will be time once more to
Of uncaptained men might be, turn one’s thoughts to “more important” things.
If the Christ had not been sent
To bring Christianity? This is the usual attitude of the world—which “catches”
a certain amount of the spirit of Christmas once a year,
I know what miracle of peace but which ignores the true Spirit of Christ the rest of the
God’s mercy could convey, time. As Christians, let us manifest the loving Spirit of
If, in our hearts, the Christ was Christ all year round!
Again, this Christmas Day!
Restitution Herald Dec. 1956, Vol. 46 No. 8, pg. 15.
Restitution Herald Dec. 1960, Vol. 50 No. 5, pg. 11.
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THE RESTITUTION HERALD Oct-Dec 2021

Atlanta Bible College

Church of God General Conference
2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400
McDonough, GA 30253

Address Service Requested

The Restitution Herald is owned and published by Church of God General Conference, 2020 Avalon Parkway, Suite 400, McDonough, GA 30253.
Published quarterly. Seth Ross, Coordinator, Robert Jones, Proofreader. Telephone 678-833-1839 or FAX 678-833-1853. Website: www.coggc.org

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If you would like to submit articles for possible publication, please submit them to

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The Restitution Herald advocates:

CHURCH OF GOD ONLINE
• the oneness of God (1 Cor. 8:6);
• the Holy Spirit is God’s power (Acts 1:8);
Church of God General Conference • Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son (Matt.
coggc.org 16:16), and is our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5);
Atlanta Bible College • the Bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16);
• the mortality of man (Job 4:17; Psa. 146:4);
atlantabiblecollege.com • the near return of Christ (Acts 1:11), and life only
Lord’s Harvest International through Him (Col. 3:3);
lhicog.com • the literal resurrection of the dead (John 5:28);
• the immortalization of those in Christ
ABC Korean Extension (1 Cor. 15:53-54);
abcke.org • the destruction of the wicked (Rev. 21:8);
• the final restoration of Israel as the kingdom of
OTHER SITES TO EXPLORE God under the kingship of Christ (Luke 1:32);
21stcr.org (Dan Gill) • the church to be joint heirs with Him (Rom. 8:17),
trinities.org (Dr. Dale Tuggy) and Israel to be made head over Gentile nations
restitutio.org (Sean Finnegan) (Isa. 60:1-3);
SeekGrowLove.com (COG writers) • the “restitution of all things which God hath spoken
scatteredbrethren.org (Robin Todd) by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
thegodofjesus.com (Kegan Chandler) world began” (Acts 3:21).
KOGmissions.com (Tracy Zhykhovich)
focusonthekingdom.org (Anthony Buzzard) It also firmly advocates repentance and immersion in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins
(Acts 2:38), and a consecrated life as essential to sal-
vation.

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