Now I Know

Thank you, and greetings from Chairman Martin, President Mr. Rickshebi, and Council of Elders, and all your brethren in the United States.

So good to be here. Earlier this week, I wasn't expecting to be here. The Council asked me to come as soon as possible. President Rickshebi, the President of the United Church of God International Association, found out there were no services among them and asked over a week ago for services to be held. The President of the United Church of God International Association found that no service was held, and that no other services were held. God wants us to fellowship and observe this Saturday. We will be here in the next week and Saturday. And Saturday a week ago, on Friday, the equipment was moved from this building. So I thank those who have done the setup for us to be able to translate and give this to our brethren in Italy. Saturday is very important, you got. You heard the sermon, that? And God wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth. I'd like you to turn to Genesis 22. In one sense, this is where the church started. Christ said He would build His church, but He started before He came here. In Genesis 22 we have the story of Abraham offering his son Isaac. Abraham was told that he had to offer his son Isaac, and he took his son and some other men to go offer him. In verse 4 it says, on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place. So we know for sure that for three days in his mind he had to kill his son. God often puts His people through trials to see how they will react. In verse 6 we see Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He had told his men in verse 5 to stay back and not go up to the top of the mountain. Isaac asked the question in verse 7 of where is the offering, Father? We say to Abraham, my son God will provide the offering. And we know what happened. Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac. God stopped him. In verse 12 we have the statement that God said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him, for now I know you fear God. I titled the sermon, Now I Know, that God's God in my life and in yours and all those who preceded us has had to say about us, Now I Know. And Abraham kept the young men away because I think he thought they might have stopped him.

And he knew he had to go through with what God had asked. So God said, Now I Know, but you don't have to offer your son, but you are willing. And Abraham is the Father of the Faithful. We know that Old Testament Israel was the Israel of God, the Church in the Old Testament. And then Christ himself came and said, I will build my church. And he continued that process. And Satan, all this time, was trying to stop what God wants. I'd like to look at another story of God's people in Numbers 16. This is the story of Corinth. It's a famous story in rebellion. In verse 2, it says, Corinth and the others rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of Renal. These are recognized men in the congregation. They were more important people, but they started thinking they were more important. And they gathered, verse 3, themselves against Moses and Aaron, and said, you take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy. Every one of them. The Lord is among all of us, so why do you lift up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? Moses heard it and fell on his face. He understood the story. He was sad at what they were doing because he knew he was against God. And so, God set the stage through Moses for what was about to happen. In verse 9, Moses tried to reason with them. Does it seem that a small thing that God and Israel had separated you from the congregation to bring you near to himself to do service to the tabernacle and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? He said, all the sons of Levi and the priesthood, do you want that also?

So, they were part of Israel and set apart, but not for that purpose.

And they challenged Moses and said, you were supposed to bring us to a land of milk and honey, we're here in the wilderness.

And we know the story. We all brought offerings because God would choose.

In verse 19, actually, we see that they gathered before the congregation to the door of the tabernacle and the glory of God descended on the tabernacle.

Obviously, Korah thought he was right to see God's glory descending. If you thought you were wrong, you'd run away. Sometimes men do this, thinking they're important. And we know what happened after that, the ground opened. Because Moses said, if you die in normal death, then God's not with us. But if the earth opens and swallows you, you'll know it's God. So God separated the people from the congregation. And then, in verse 35, we see there came a fire from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered the incense.

Sometimes God answers prayers like Moses instantly. And sometimes it takes some time. But what did the people do? In verse 40-41, it says, on the morrow, the day after all this happened.

And they said, thank you for getting rid of all those evil people.

That's not what they said. They murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of God. Those men had to be personalities, recognized. For the people to say, why did you kill our friends? They were really challenging God. And God didn't take it kindly. Verse 44, God spoke to Moses. Verse 45, get up from among the congregation. I will consume them all. When Moses made intercession and asked Aaron to take a censor and stop this.

And Aaron stood between the dead and the living, and the plight who stayed. Verse 49, we see that they that died on the plague were 14,700, besides those that died with Korah.

There's always damage to a congregation and a people when we disobey God. How does Satan work to make people get so far off?

He tries to get people emotionally upset. Emotions, especially pride and anger. And then emotion removes logic and facts. In Isaiah 14, we are given a glimpse of what happened long before mankind. In Isaiah 14, we will start in verse 12. We know this is late Lucifer who became Satan. In verse 12, we'll turn one more page. In verse 12, we read, How are you falling from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How are you cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? You had said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will be the most high. Pride. He thought he was greater than God. Like Korah, he couldn't accept the position that he had. In Ezekiel 28, we see a parallel scripture. In Ezekiel 28, we see a parallel scripture.

Ezekiel 28, we begin in verse 12. He is the one who has been saved by the Lord. Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the Lord. You seal up the sun full of wisdom and perfect immunity. You have been eaten, the garden of God. That's all we know this is not talking about a man. Every precious stone was your covering. The Sardis, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the hanax, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuckle, the gold.

The workmanship of your tabberage and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. So we know that there was a creation time for Lucifer. Verse 14, he says, you were the anointed cherub that covered. Now I set you so, and you were on the holy mountain of God. You had walked up and down the mist of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created till iniquity was found in you.

We have to be careful that iniquity is not found in us. It's so easy for men to begin big in their own eyes. And Satan wants you to feel that way. To not recognize the importance God places on us. The importance to be humble. The importance of yes and only. The importance to be under his law and under his authority. And Satan does that. In Proverbs 18 or 17, In Proverbs 18, Something many men have done for 6,000 years.

It says, But neither dispersed in his own cause seems just. But his neighbor comes and searches him. I've seen many times people try to bring things in my life. They brought things to Mr. Oxtron when I worked for him.

Verse 21, God says, So how we use our tongue.

And God is up there saying, Now I know.

Only one chapter, so 3rd John 1. We saw someone that I never understood as a child. I came into the church with my mother. She was a small child. I was 2 when she came in. In 1954. I know I don't look that old, but I am. So I have seen the history of a modern church. I actually had 12 years with the church's Imperial schools. I study the Bible every day. And then I went to college for 4 years. Ambassador College, all the classes there. I was supposed to go into the field when Mr. Armstrong asked me to travel with him on his airplane. So in 1974, I had my 12 years career with him.

God had worked out things. I'm not sure why. We don't always know why. I began working on the airplane. And I saw things that hurt me deeply. Men that I respected dearly. I saw them give information to Mr. Armstrong that was wrong. Some direct lies and some just incomplete information. I never saw him make a bad decision with all the information. I saw a number of bad decisions when he was not given all the facts. After 7 years working on the plane and I flew alone, my wife didn't fly.

Because the crew members' wives did not fly. I became his aide. And he also made me vice president in overall projects that we did around the world. And Captain Black on the airplane. He said, now, Aaron, you give Mr. Armstrong the right information. He'll make the right decision. I said, no, Captain. If I give him the right information, he'll make my decision.

If I give him all the information, he'll make the right decision. I would always tell him everything straight forward.

And during those first couple of years, I had to tell him a lot of things that he didn't want to hear. But he knew we're true. But that's what we have to be, is honest. In 3 John, verse 4, John says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, not do faithfully whatsoever you do to the brethren and to strangers. In verse 6, he acknowledges those who have borne faithful witness and given to the church. In verse 6, he acknowledges those who have borne faithful witness and given to the church.

In verse 8, he says, therefore we ought to receive such that we might fellowship and be fellow-hutlers to the truth. Verse 9, though, is what struck me as a child. John, who is with Jesus Christ, who had been his minister since his death by this time, decades. And he writes, I wrote to the church. But diapographies, who loves to have preeminence among them, receives us not. How could a man reject someone that the Apostle John sent to him? He saw preeminence, so he bought highlobe of himself. He probably had a very nice personality and spoke well. And turned the hearts of the people toward himself instead of toward God. Verse 10, John says, wherefore if I come I'll remember his deeds, which he does, praying against us with malicious words.

And not content therewith, neither does he himself receive the brethren, but forbids them that would, and casts them out of the church. The love had fallen not that which is evil, but that which is good. Neither is evil. Neither does good as of God, but he that does evil has not seen God. So we see in the early church there were men who did things wrong. They may have believed they were right. People can be sincere, yet wrong. Well, I never understood how John could send someone and be rejected. Until I saw those things happen in the church over the last 50 years. The next book, Jude, verse 4, verse 4 says, there were certain men crept in unaware to before hold were ordained to this condemnation. Ungodly men turning the grace of God into blusiviousness, denying our only Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

They taught turning grace into license. But if you sin more, Christ could forgive more. They also thought other things, that Christ wasn't really resurrected. And the Trinity came out of that. God really wasn't dead. I've seen other things cause people to leave as well. And often they counter power, like the after fees.

Or leaders such as Korah. But like Abraham, God says, now I know. And that can be good or bad. God says, now I know. Matthew 13 talks of the wheat and the tares. I won't read that. But you know the story. Some was on fertile ground, some on stony ground, some on the wayside. They all grew up together. And there was a lot of criticism. And I think that, in my opinion, And they're going to try to rip out the Terrace. He says, Christ says, No, wait, because you might take out good people with the Terrace.

The man named Covey wrote a book called The Seven Habits, A Highly Effective People. And his points were right out of the Bible. One of those would seek to understand. And when you talk to someone, you make sure that you know what they said, and they know what you said. People that want power resist change that doesn't benefit them. They say they hear you, but they really don't. And if something is benefiting you, you don't want change. And God eventually brings the truth to life. Patience is a big part of that. With God, we have no patience. We really have no faith. In many situations, I have prayed for God to change something that I knew was wrong. I saw others try to change it on their own. That is not ours to do. But God brings those things to life and changes it when it's His time. And anyone who takes an action to divide the body of Christ without due process harms the spiritual body.

There are times when we face these situations and we face the same problems as the other. For example, when we face the same problems, we face the same problems. Because they asked us to sin. And it's sad. But other people that are not asked to sin, still think they should change things.

And that's when God tests our faith, tests our patience. In 2 Corinthians 2, we're told not to be ignorant of Satan's devices. He tempts us to make changes fast. The 1 Corinthians 2, 2 Corinthians 2, 11 says not to be ignorant. But I have to go to 2 Corinthians 11. I'm learning to be ambidextrous. I'm not used to trying to watch that. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 9, it says when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man, for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And all the things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you. Other people financed his trips so he could help them in Corinth. Just like the United Church of God has given over the years over 3 million dollars to Italy.

For our brethren to be helped and taught. Because the spiritual body is one. But there are people who get in the way. Verse 13, for such are false apostles, the staple workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. The Every break from the Church since the, before I was born even, Shramshot told me of people in the 30s and 50s.

And even the 1950s and beyond. Everyone considered themselves right in their own eyes. And justified it. They were not willing to take correction or be subject to authority. Verse 14, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. It's no great thing if his ministers also are transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

I have friends that have left the Church many, many years ago.

Some of the men, women that I went to school with, Imperial schools and college, have left the truth of God. Sometimes in anger. Sometimes because I don't think God ever really called them.

In most cases, something happens. Right or wrong, which they justified or got angry with. I have seen emotion, especially anger, take people away from God.

But in Ephesians 4, 26, it says, Be angry, but sin not. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Neither give place to the devil. Many people feel hurt. They give out to pride and to anger. They don't have to be hurt. I have seen men who were correct on an issue. They try to take matters into their own hands. And end up removing themselves, or God removing them, because of their pride.

But you can be angry without sin. You can't be emotional. But you can't harbor it when you give place to the devil.

Turn to 2 Corinthians 2. You see, Satan has ways to get the advantage of us.

He's been doing this for 6,000 years, this kind. He knows us, clearly. I think that's one thing that Christ has as a man. Because I always wondered... It says... Christ said, I saw Satan follow us lightly from heaven. Obviously, as a human on earth, he didn't see that happen. I think God gave him the memory of all history. If all of us had a memory of what happened before in any situation, we would know the outcome.

Thirty-some years ago, I was involved with some students. I saw some students who had committed some sins. I was the first to know that they had gotten drunk and were going to be kicked out of college. I was born in Oubria, the first time I saw them in college. One young man I saw him sitting there crying. He was poor in the church area and collected money and paid for his college. He was being sent home. I told him to... You could repent, change your life, and you can come back next year. But I asked him this question. If you could feel what you're feeling now, before you took that first swallow, would you have taken it? We have to recognize we are weak and we have to know the outcome of our actions. But as humans, we often learn the hard way. We have to know that we are weak and we have to know the outcome of our actions. And Satan knows that about us. It's not that it's not a song. So I'm 2 Corinthians. Do you know 2 Corinthians? 2 Corinthians.

Verse 11, it said, let me back up. Not what I want. It said, let Satan get an advantage for us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.

In this case, we know, in verse 9, how to not let Satan get advantage of us.

To be obedient and recognize authority. And also to be forgiving. Verse 10 says that. So we have to be obedient to God's law. And forgive others to be able to get from Satan's devices.

You see, people that have emotions and get angry have a perception and expectations in the world they live.

And when reality does not meet their expectations. And they get more and more angry. And the anger left uncontrolled leads to sin and destruction. Satan did that exact thing, and God had to say, now I know with him as well.

And he says that to each of us. A person under the influence of human emotion cannot rationalize. They cannot comprehend reality. And they cannot make good decisions. And in this state of mind, since you don't think clearly, emotion takes control of your reactions. And then people who want to be in charge take advantage of emotion. They try to sway people.

And we have suffered splits over the decades because of that. We have suffered divisions over the years because of that.

And that makes you susceptible to Satan's devices. Psychologically, anger makes you think two things. Defend or attack. If you're irrational and your perception is wrong, your defense or attack has no basis in reality.

Its basis is emotion. And Satan takes advantage of this and he loves it. Because men deceive themselves with their rights when they're absolutely wrong.

And these emotions cause great problems in society, in marriages, and even in the church. And there is repentance available to those who commit a sin.

And you would have no speaker.

It's interesting when Christ was with the disciples. And since we know he did the sin, he wasn't wrong in being angry. In John 2, it tells of the story of turning over the tables of the money changers.

He was angry that he turned the temple and God's house into a house of merchandise.

And in verse 17 of John 2, it says, The disciples remembered that we'd written. What was written was, The zeal of my house has eaten me up.

This may seem irrational, but it was not. This was an injustice toward God. It was righteous emotion. He saw the church being defiled, and being active to cleanse it. But he had perfect knowledge. Competized people think they're cleansing the church when they're damaging it. Christ doing this was not His preference, or His plan, or His presence. It was not His preference, not His plan, not His prejudice. It was God's Word that moved Him. It was not His preference, or His purpose.

When we do things, we have to remember Jeremiah 17.9, that the heart is deceitful and wicked. When we do things, we have to remember that we are in the name of the Lord. The emotional emotion gives us strength. It can give us courage and motivation to combat injustice. Whether it's done to us, or to others, improper, irrational anger carries the same strength. But it combats perceived injustice. From an irrational perspective, that doesn't involve sin, but we got a favor. I'd like to go to John 18, verse 10. Peter was a very convicted man. He had courage. He wanted to defend God. Yet, his defense was not what God intended. He had some misplaced anger. He perceived an injustice. And he was going to fix it. He was going to fix it. This is the story of Christ being taken. In John 18, verse 10, it says, Simon Peter having a sword grew it.

He smoked the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. This is wrong, and I'm going to fix it.

That wasn't God's plan. It wasn't injustice. But Jesus said to Peter, Put up your sword into a sheath. The cup which my father has given me, shall I not drink it? I'm not going to drink it. Peter loved Jesus. Peter was a man of Jesus. Later, he was martyred for being Jesus' witness. He was a man of Jesus, but he was in the testimony of Jesus. Jesus and Peter interpreted things differently. Jesus saw Peter interpreting the cause of the murder. Jesus saw this as an event that had to happen. Jesus was the one who wanted to live. Did he like it? No. He knew this was how it had to be. He knew this was how it had to be. Peter just saw soldiers unjustly taking Jesus. And to stop it, he was willing to cut off a man's ear. And I don't think he was aiming at his ear. Christ, of course, put the ear back on. And I was just thinking, I always wondered what that high-precedent thought after that. We're killing a man that can heal a ear instantly? We don't know what he thought. In my lifetime in the church, most of what I witness is people trying to say their anger is godly righteousness. In the beginning, the people who were in the church were trying to heal the Lord. But usually it's tied to self-righteousness and pride. And they were trying to get the right to be a God. And often a desire for power and position. And they were trying to get the right to be a God. And often a desire for power and position. And usually results in wrong actions, division. They justify it and they claim to be victims. Or claim not to be heard. When they have been. And they have been. And they have been. And they have been. And they have been. And they just can't see it. Because emotion has taken over. Mr. Armstrong, I saw people try to get their way by upsetting him.

We used to have a, we called a three-week program where the ministry would come in for training.

Mr. Goss got upset because someone walked out during his presentation.

He didn't follow Matthew 18. He came to Mr. Armstrong.

And he said, this man doesn't think this is important. He walked out.

Mr. Armstrong looked at me and said, well, Aaron, what do you think? He did that to me, sometimes. So I turned to Mr. Takach, and I said, did the man have to go to the bathroom? Takach stood there. Mr. Armstrong said, well, Takach, did he? We all have to make sure we understand. And we do Matthew 18. Doesn't mean it always works. Because some people are not ready to understand. Satan uses tools, lies, greed, selfishness.

He'll even use disappointment and discouragement. And he wants to cause doubt. All through the New Testament, especially in Paul, we're told that Satan's devices do not have any means of strife.

And most times anger comes from not having the truth. We all have to recognize our humanity.

Jesus Christ said, thy word is truth. And that's where we go. To God's word. Of course, Christ said, I told you the truth and you didn't believe me. You said, I told you the truth and you didn't believe me. And you said, I told you the truth and you didn't believe me.

When we talked about the rationalism of God, who was it? And you said, I told you the truth and you said, I told you the truth. And Satan's main resource is a lie. He uses it to create wrong emotions, jealousy and anger. And pride. We must believe the truth and that very often requires patience. And we must create a patience for God to look at us and say, now I know. And sometimes we all take things into our own hands. You learn and you repent. Can you see clearly? Whether in the first century or now. Every cushion in the church there have been lies spread to make people angry and vulnerable to be taken away.

Even the first murder came rationalized. He tried to make his non-acceptance have an external cause.

If Abel wasn't giving such a good offering, my offering would look good.

So if I get rid of Abel, I can be better. I can be number one. How do you avoid falling into Satan's devices? Often think of the story of Job because there's someone who is successful at fighting Satan.

We want God to be fair. And God is fair by definition. He's God. Because even the bad things that happen to us are to perfect us. I've told our students, don't get upset at how God chooses to mold you. I've told our students, don't get upset at how God chooses to mold you. I've told our students, don't get upset at how God chooses to mold you.

All of you have friends. God called Job righteous. And Satan said, well, take everything he has and he'll curse you. So would you take your friend who you love as righteous and say, okay, take everything he has, kill his children, steal all his cattle, all his money?

You don't believe that doesn't seem fair? Job didn't react wrong. Lord gives, the Lord takes away. And then he said, well, strike his body, give him boils. Oh, they hurt. So God let him do that too. And Job didn't fight. You know when his wife said, Job cursed God and died. How did he avoid it? He was close to God. He prayed regularly for himself and for his family every day. That's how he maintained a relationship with God. Do you or I maintain that kind of relationship with our God? When that happens, what is your reaction? I've learned over decades to patiently wait for God.

Not to decide what should be or what should happen. I don't want to be in the back of the bed. Because we're playing God. I don't want to be in the back of the bed. And that behavior does not serve us well. And that's why we're not in the back. It makes us feel stressed and unhappy. We're not happy. It undermines our physical health as well as our spiritual health. And we're not happy. We're not happy. Job is very special to God. Job is special to God. So when that happens, what's your reaction? In some ways, I wish I could be as righteous as Job. We talk about self-righteousness, but Job was amazing.

In some ways, we love anger and emotions. Because we create a justification for what we do and the self-righteousness. We create the drama. We take a starring role in the light. We feed our ego with it. We don't want to be alone. We want the support.

And we thank God for doing something differently. We strive to understand God's own sins. Some of you remember, some of you weren't born yet and don't know.

He got angry and told his father that, I built this church, I was on TV, and I'll take the church with me.

He created his own truth. It was a fake truth. Only about 2% of the church went with us. Some groups had been more successful. In the past, it took about a third of the members. Which is sad, but I often say, well, Satan took a third of the angels. And I have friends there that irritate them. And I crazy them. I have friends that went to college there. Friends I work with and ask them, please don't do this. They were too emotionally involved and couldn't change. And they created lives saying, we're going to change this out of things. But they created a plausible illusion. And some people believed it. The Feast in France this year. There was a couple that had left Cogwa this year and a couple that had left David Hume's group. First David was on the other side of the church. First David was on the other side of the church. And that was our first president who decided he should be in charge.

And when he started his church, he made claims that we're wrong.

He had flown on a few trips with us in the G2. And I knew him well. Mr. Armstrong refused to put him on his council of others. And he told the church that he was the only one from the old council that was coming on to the new council to do what to do. Who? David Hume. Okay. David Hume. David Hume. David Hume. Okay. He came on to the council when Mr. DeCotch pointed out when he removed me.

But Mr. Armstrong saw the flaws in him. But he also saw the good things. He was a talented person. Sometimes talent is a problem. But the people who laughed and came back said, We believed he was going to do our work.

And he told us United wouldn't. And he spun the truth and convinced them. And they said, we realize now he hasn't done anything in 20-some years. A similar thing with the people who left with Congress. He said they told us things that we learned were not true. But we as the people have to meet God's expectations, not our own.

We all have situations we don't enjoy. But we don't have the right to lash out or call people names. We don't have the right to seek revenge. And we don't have the right to do God's job. There are times you should act. And times when you shouldn't. I often refer to the story of Azaz, the story of Peniz. I'll give you the scripture so you can look it up for yourself. Azaz in 1 Chronicles 13. And Phineas is in Numbers 25. The Ark was returning from the Philistines who had taken it from King Saul. The Ark was returning from the Philistines who had taken it from the Philistines who had taken it from the Philistines who had taken it from the Philistines. And it caused great problems for the Philistines. And they were sending it back to get rid of the curses God was putting on them. When the rest of the world was not there, the original religion was being taken. So they took mothers with newborn calves and put them off to the cart.

Cows that would normally never leave their calves. They hitched to the wagon they took off for Jerusalem. And they brought them back to Jerusalem. And as it came to Israel, it says the cart began to... the oxen stumbled, and the cart was going to fall. They would enter in Israel, but the nook was not able to run on them. And Azazah saw it and he said, oh no! And he reaches up to hold it, to do what's right to save the Ark. And God struck him dead. It wasn't his job. You were not supposed to touch the ark unless you were a high priest. Even then, they carried it on poles. But everybody saw it was falling. Sometimes we do that. But the people I see do that think they're Phineas. Phineas was the son of the Valley Age of the Priest. And Israel, the men, the mummim, were fornicating the mollites. And he saw it was wrong. So he took a spear and he rammed it through. And Israel lied to the mummim.

And God stopped the plague because of it. I have seen many men try to hold the ark, thinking they were Phineas staying the plague.

So unless you feel that God's Holy Spirit is able to see clearly from his perspective, then being emotional is just like being under the influence of a drug. And it prevents you from rationalizing and thinking logically. And in both cases, God says, now I know. It's difficult. It's not easy. And each of them justified it right or wrongly, but they did. One man said, being angry and emotional is like drinking poisons and expecting the person you're angry at to die. I'm so mad at you that I'm drinking those poisons so you can die. For forgiveness, Council. Forgiveness heals us. Whether the other person deserves the forgiveness or not, we have to give it. It doesn't mean we're foolish and let them keep the behavior, though. Control of emotion is accomplished through the process of overcoming. We all make mistakes when it comes to the problem of the problem. We all make mistakes when it comes to our emotions. And God grants repentance. Repentance is not just feeling sorry that you got caught. Or being forced to say, I'm sorry. You have to actually gain control of your thoughts. And then turn to a life of obedience. And living that Christian life requires work. Forgiveness does not remove our human nature. God knows what we've done right or wrong. We have to know what we've done wrong. And it's those episodes that give us that Godly character. I've done so many things I could spend hours telling you the things that I witnessed. The things I've been through. But the book of Acts helps me. At one point, my life was threatened and I had to flee. When people were trying to take over the church and told Mr. Armstrong, and he called me.

He said, leave town immediately. Your life's been threatened. And I took all the cash I had and I left. I jumped from motel to motel to motel every day. And I'd done anything wrong. I simply told the truth. But it wasn't the truth that others were telling him. I was afraid that he would be in the same place.

I've often prayed, God, let this be my trial and not my preparation for one. I've always prayed that if I don't have the preparation, I won't have the preparation. Because they usually get worse. Some are emotional. Some are financial. Some are spiritual. And every time, God's saying, now I know. And I've always prayed that I would be in the same place. And the answer is, every time. And it is from the truth of God. Yeah, why should I get upset at how God chooses to mold me? Because I've never been in a model with your shield before. Christ inspired Paul to write, the weapons of our warfare are not. Armels, the blighted gods, hold down strongholds. We have Him in the spirit.

Christ is telling us plainly, the battlefield on which we win or lose. Is the battlefield of our mind and hearts?

Perhaps we think someone did not treat us fairly. Perhaps we think someone did us wrong. Perhaps our understanding of an agreement was broken. Maybe someone lied to us and we think they should not. Maybe we think we should not. Or something happened that we think should not have happened. Or something did happen, if we think should have happened. Maybe some of these things were true. Maybe we should have done something wrong.

Maybe we should have done something wrong. We only control our own reactions. We control our own reactions. We control our own reactions. Perhaps we should have done something wrong. Perhaps we should have done something wrong. Maybe we should have done something wrong. How am I going to react to what they do? How am I going to react to what they do? I forgive that but it was against me. Can I help them see themselves? We can't help them see themselves. I'm going to say, now I know. We're both of us. I thought I would give a brief history of the Church of Italy. In the 1960s, a man named Frank Inglima worked in Pasadena and he understood Italians. Mr. Inglima had a new broadcast on the radio. He was on the broadcast of the radio. I don't like that. I don't think he was talking about that. He was talking about his mentor, he was talking about his mentor. And so Mr. Inglima did those broadcasts. He was talking about the broadcast of the Church. Some people came into the Church from those. The person who was there was a guy who was there. But the 1970s, they were going wrong. The income dropped and so the radio broadcast stopped.

But then there were some other students who came to college who spoke Italian. And Karen Catharwood, who could learn languages was French speaking and also spoke Italian.

And there were others. And with United when it started, there were various peoples. And Carmela Anastasi was guiding things. And he was part of United. I found out in 2009, however, that the bylaws were changed. So I'm the International Advisor for the Church. And for the last few years, we've been going through all the bylaws of all the countries' grounds. And the ultimate goal was to take the whole institution, the whole international community, and to do it. Because in the split in 2010, we lost many properties. Because the division of the military and the personal community was lost. So we wanted to change the bylaws so that all properties that we had given money for would be used by people who wanted to be with United. And we were able to take all the properties, the people who were with us, the international community, and the people who were with us. In some countries, we could not own the property ourselves. But we did write the bylaws so that someone left our association, that the properties would remain for people in that country who wanted to stay with us. And we did not know that the people who were with us were not with us, that the people who were with us were not with us. So I was going in all the countries in Asia and Africa first. We were in the United States, in Africa, in Asia. And then I got to Europe. And then I got to Europe. And I asked Mr. Anastasi to change the bylaws. And he said he was willing. And we sent their bylaws to our lawyer. The original bylaws that we had on file said that members of the council over the US could be on the Italian board. The original bylaws that we had on file said that members of the council over the US could be on the Italian board. The bylaws who were sent this didn't have that in them. But the constitution that we had, that we were able to do, or we were able to do, was not a European. He didn't really talk about the United States, United Church of God, the CIA. He didn't talk about the United States, the United States, the United States. So the council commissioned me over three years ago to work to change those. Other countries I was able to do in a few months, I haven't been able to do in several years.

And that's why Mr. Shavey and I and the council wanted me to come back to make that happen. I never got the information I wanted, and I had a ranch in Paulpeper to come down and someone else to audit me. I didn't have the information I wanted, but I wanted to make sure that I had the information I wanted. I never really got the information I wanted, and I had a ranch in Paulpeper to come down and someone else to audit me. But with the split with CAGO, our hands were tied. And that's why when everything settled by 2020, I was assigned to go back and restart that process. I was able to do that in a way that was very systematic. I was able to do that in a way that was very simple. And we started that process. And sadly we've had resistance. See, we want everyone to be in compliance with the governing documents that we all agreed to. We don't have the right to do anything about it, but we want everyone to be in compliance with the rules. The strength of the United Church of God is the ability to appeal if something is wrong. One of the things that the United Church of God has done is to give the possibility of a good deal to the people who are in charge of the various rights. Every member has the right to appeal if they think they have been done unjustly.

And every minister has the right to appeal if they feel they have been done unjustly. Because we recognize in the past sometimes people were abused. And our desire was to keep anything like that from happening. And we have a committee called the Member for the Minister of Appeal Committee. And if a case is brought before them, they have the right to override the Council of Owners.

In this way, people don't have to leave to get something done. They can appeal.

Usually the facts are clear, but they have actually overridden the Council. So usually the facts are clear when the case isn't overridden. But we have been.

We have been, although we have been all over the world. In that way, anyone who thinks it's unjust doesn't have to leave. They can appeal.

We all have the right to appeal before God and Christ. But we also have the right to appeal to the governments. And there is a governance in the Church. President Shaby is the president of all the worldwide congregations of the United Church of God. That's why he had the right to say you can meet on the south.

And then I should come here and help. God will do what's right. And he tests this. So our story is in that appeal. I have found those who are wrong don't like an appeal. They wish to take action on their own. They want it before an investigation can be done. And it hurts. Since United's inception, I've lost many friends. My friends. And the sad. In December of 1986, before Mr. Armstrong died in January 1986, the difficult day, January 16, for me, was the last four months of his life. I was at his side day and night. Literally. I slept on a chiropractor table in his bedroom.

I'd already given him the last five years of my life. In the five years with him, when I became his age, I had two days off.

And that was Christmas Day one year and Thanksgiving Day another. We weren't deserving Christmas, but I asked the school to ask me to be a chaperone so I could ski.

He almost didn't let me go because he said I could break a leg and it would be no good to him.

And I left for Thanksgiving to see my wife's parents back in New Jersey. I set up TV in his work for him. I was supposed to have the four days off, but he called and had me fly back after Thanksgiving. But my wife and I had no children and I was there to help him. I know what hard work is. And many of the people who have left us work hard. I acknowledge that. But that month, December of 1985, there were several months he had been deciding who should be over the church when he died. He came down the elevator, downstairs. He walked in the couch and I was sitting on the couch. And he said, Aaron, I'm appointing you as Pastor John.

I asked him, did God tell you that? He said, no. He said, why are you trying to kill me? And I said, if God wants you to do something, He helps you. If He doesn't, He'll die. Either way, it's hard. He said, you're the only one that knows everything I do. And you've been loyal, faithful to God, and honest.

I said, Mr. Armstrong, if God doesn't want it, I don't want it. There were older men. I was only 33. I could have told stories of David and the young people in the church, and Joash, and the sign, and the kings.

I knew if I could talk about it, that God did them all.

And if I could, if I couldn't talk about it, God would help me.

I did not know what God had in mind. And I think it was one of those moments in my life when God could say, now I know. Chances to know yourself sometimes are few and far between. Chances to know yourself sometimes are few and far between. And that's when Mr. Armstrong said, I'm going to fight Mr. Dukatche, who was sitting there with me. He made me promise to tell Mr. Dukatche when he did something wrong. And I said, you're asking me to correct my future boss? And he said something that I think was the biggest compliment he ever gave me. He said he did me. Because I was always honest with him. Then he made me sure that God promised to make me his aid. And I said, I don't want to be his aid. He has his own staff. Mr. Armstrong said, Mr. Dukatche, your staff has done things wrong. He made him promise never to bring his staff up. He was like an Old Testament prophet telling the king, if you do this, this will happen, this way, you'll be right.

The day he died he brought his staff up. Every change in the Church came from His staff. A month before Mr. DeCats died, he came to Texas. I saw in his eyes he was dying. He gave a sermon in Atlanta some weeks before and said, If I'm wrong, God can take me. From that moment, he went downhill. He admitted to me that month before he died that he could not prove a single change he allowed in the Church.

He was not able to prove that the change was the same as the last one. And I said you did not have the right to make those changes. He was the one who did not have the right to make those changes. He broke every promise that he made in Mr. Armstrong. He made the promise that he would not be able to make it. It was a difficult time. It was a difficult time. He asked me to lie in the pulpit the first week after Mr.

Armstrong died. I said I won't lie for you. He was insecure. He was a follower, not a leader. He let others manipulate her. When I was talking to him a month before he died, he said my staff wouldn't lie to me. I said wait, did they lie about this? Did they lie about this? He died a month later.

They told everyone that he died a peaceful death surrounded by his loving family. That God gave him a wonderful death for making all these changes away from legalism. He had three nurses, and they kept a log book. They asked him to write that in the book, but he died peacefully with the loving family. They all refused to write it. They said it was not peaceful and it was not loving.

One of Mr. Armstrong's nurses was in the room as a nurse. He had never seen a more hideous death in 18 years of nursing. He had cancer all through his body, and he had sores all over. He said he couldn't even roll over in bed the last few weeks without cursing. He wanted people to stay with him for this peaceful lie they gave. But it was a biblical death.

He was sad because we were friends. I did tell him when he did things wrong. He didn't like it, but he was afraid of me because I was in the room all the time. In a meeting in Texas, some faculty said, why are you letting these men change things? He said, I didn't believe these things in the 70s. It's not my staff changing them. I raised my hand. I said, you promised Mr. Armstrong you believed everything the Church taught. Are you lying today, or are you lying to him?

He said the meeting is over and walked out. It was a big difference between him and Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong tried to keep his promises to God. He would change when he was robbed. When people said, I don't care what you think. He said, what does God think? That is true for all humanity. There may be cultural differences, but we're all humans. God's way works for all humans. The last week of Mr. Armstrong's life, he grabbed my hand and pulled it to him.

He asked me to promise to help prepare the bride. He said, that's what's next. Ever since his death, God has been testing the bride. You've been offered apostasy. You've been offered to pick your own church. You've been offered to start your own church. You've been offered to pick the man you want to follow. And Christ is up there saying, now I know. Am I your king or some man? He held my hand and said, in a few short years, the church will quit keeping the Sabbath. He said, how can that be? The Bible doesn't change.

He says it will happen. How will he close? The foundation will close. And the only reason Mr. Dukat was named because he was over church administration? And he told Mr. Dukat you're not smart enough to study and change documents. His counsel was the one that was supposed to decide documents. He removed me from the counsel two months or almost a month and a half after Mr. Armstrong died. And he had the other council members concede their rights. I would never have done that.

But God had something in mind. He wanted some justice. And I wanted to scream and shout. And I opened my Bible. And I turned and randomly I was on the story of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Rehoboam's going to fight Jeroboam. They give the kingdom back. And God said, this is a me, don't do it. And I thought, who am I to say, we've got to keep the church together. And I realized God was doing something.

So I kept my promise and told Mr. Dukat when he was wrong. And I didn't go public until he died. Because at that point I could no longer open. Mr. Armstrong's made me make a promise to him. After he asked me to prepare the bread. And I hope I've done that today. But yet, maybe make one last promise. To promise me that you will rise with me when Christ returns.

And I told him I wouldn't. I'm not trying to keep that promise. I'm not. I would ask all of you to make that same promise. It won't be easy. There are things we won't understand. But Christ is the head of the church. If anyone says they built the church, they're wrong. They will not be wrong. God and Christ are the head. We are the God of Christ.

So God's up there, and he says, now I know. I know that the same thing is true. And I'm afraid he can say the same thing of you. I'm afraid that you have done it. What does someone have you do? You will also rise to meet Christ when he returns. For all of those who hear this and are listening, I pray. Look at the facts, patience, and forgiveness. And if you have a cultural question, you will have to find the facts, and the facts, and the aspects of the facts. Because without patience, you have no faith. You will have no faith. And you may lose. And God won't be able to say, now I know, as he did for Abraham. You will be able to understand the future of the Bible and the Bible. We're allowing you to speak to you today on behalf of the Council of Sentinels. It's a pleasure to work with God's people. Whether right or wrong, I don't hate anyone. And I pray for everyone. Because Christ died for everybody. Friends and enemies. So we pray for all. Did God help? Did the league? The United Church of God and all His people? We are near the end. We are here to sustain God's ability to be the King of the North and the King of the South. May God all be together.

And God will let it happen in His time. When it's right for us. I hope no one loses their salvation over smaller issues. Because He's called us to a big, big job. May God find us all faithful when His Son returns.

With that, I will wish you all well. May God be with you.