THE 18 RESTORED BIBLE TRUTHS +

All thanks to Herbert Armstrong’s efforts as the modern Elijah (Mt. 17:10-11)

Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things” …

Incidentally, in addition to the 18 truths Mr. Armstrong restored during the 6th Church era (see below), he also found that the previous Church era was still hanging on to three core biblical truths when he found them in the 1920s. They had the Family name, “Church of God,” they were keeping God’s commandments — including the weekly Sabbath, and they were still tithing faithfully.

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will take you to much more detailed information about each restored truth!

  1. The Government of God: When Christ comes, He will restore God’s government over the whole earth (Zech. 14:9; Acts 3:20-21).  When Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong came among the brethren of the Sardis era—the Church of God (Seventh Day)—they found that they were running on fumes, spiritually speaking (Rev. 3:1-2). They still had the right name, Church of God, and still upheld God’s law including the Sabbath and tithing. But they weren’t doing God’s Work with any real power and their form of government was basically a democracy with a biannual conference and voting. Thanks to Herbert Armstrong, God’s government was restored to the Church during the 6th Church era (I Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11).
  2. Preaching Christ’s Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God: This “Family Business” was also restored after a 1,900-year hiatus (Mt. 24:14). The Sardis era brethren had not resigned themselves to Matthew 24:5, as professing Christendom has; but neither did they have a clear understanding of Christ’s Kingdom message (Mk. 1:14-15). Instead they were emphasizing what they called a “third angel’s message.”
  3. The purpose God is working out here below: Sardis had lost this too and virtually no one in the professing Christian world today understands that mankind was created to enter into the God Family (Gen. 1:26; John 3:5-7; I Cor. 15:50-57; Phil. 3:20-21; I Thess. 4:13-18). That’s right, God is reproducing Himself through mankind. No other church knows or teaches this. But in offering up their counterfeit, they mislead the “unchurched” with noble sounding, yet entirely false, concepts like “born again” and the “kingdom of God within.” These fallacies, however, are easy to disprove. For instance—as Romans 8:29 clearly states—“Christ is the firstborn of many brethren.” So what God means by “born again” won’t actually get underway until the first resurrection (John 3:6; 4″24; I Cor. 15:22-23, 50-53; Rev. 20:4-6).
  4. Who and What is God?: The Jews think of God as one being while virtually all of professing Christendom mistakenly views God the Father as the God of the Old Testament while Jesus Christ—His Son—came to do away with His Father’s commandments during the New Testament dispensation. In other words, no one really understands Who and What is God. Enter Herbert Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong came to see that God is a Family into which humanity may be born, becoming literal members of the God Family (John 1:1-2; I John 1:1-3). He saw in verses like Romans 8:16 that God’s Spirit witnesses together with our spirit that we are the begotten children, the true heirs of the God’s soon coming Kingdom!
  5. What is Man?: Do we have an immortal soul? Or are we just an animal? What happens at death? Well, here again, the Bible makes it clear that the dead are unconscious and don’t know anything (Eccl. 9:5). The Sardis era members understood some of what happens at death, but not fully. Again, like professing Christianity, they could not see that there is a spirit in man so they did not understand that awesome purpose God is working out out here below. Like professing Christendom, they could not understand clear verses like Job 32:8 and Ecclesiastes 12:7.
  6. The human spirit in man: Man is not an immortal soul (Ezek. 18:4, 20). And, unlike the animals who were made “after their own kind,” man was made “after the God kind.” Herbert Armstrong came to see that God created man in His own image and after His likeness so that mankind could be born into the God Family (Gen. 1:24-27). To make that “birth” possible, God placed a “spirit in man” (Job 32:8; Zech. 12:1). He came to see in God’s Word that it was this spirit in man that explains the vast difference between human mind and animal brain. He also understood that the “human spirit” was not a separate entity within the man but was a spirit component that combined with the human brain to produce human intellect. Furthermore, just as typed by human reproduction, he also came to understand that it was this human spirit that needed to combine with God’s Holy Spirit in order to make it possible for human kind to be born into the God Family (John 3:5-8; I Cor. 2:11).
  7. The Church is only the firstfruits: of God’s plan for mankind, not the end of His salvation plan. Again, unlike traditional Christianity, Herbert Armstrong came to see that God is not trying to save everyone now but that all of mankind—from Adam on—will be given their respective chance to enter into the God family (I Cor. 15:22-23). Yes, God’s plan starts with His Church. This is why we are being taught and trained now so that we can become the teachers and rulers under Christ’s direction when He comes to rule in the Millennium and when He starts to save the rest of the world (Is. 9:6-7; Zech. 14:9-21; I Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4, 6).
  8. The Church is not yet the Kingdom of God: but like a baby in it’s mother’s womb, we are being trained within the Church to eventually be born into the Family and Kingdom of God (Gal. 4:26; Eph. 5:23-32; Rev. 20:4-6).
  9. Only those whom God the Father calls and draws to Him can be converted now: No other church knows or believes that. But this is another truth that Herbert Armstrong restored to the Church during the 6th Church era. Based on John 6:44 he came to see that only those who God calls and draws to Christ during their short human lifetime can have the opportunity to receive God’s Holy Spirit and who can then prepare themselves to become the firstborn into the Family of God at the first resurrection (Rom. 8:29; I Cor. 15:22-23; Rev. 20:4, 6).
  10. The resurrection to judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment now: God has a plan to save all those who have not had an opportunity for salvation and who are now dead in their graves. They did not receive God’s Holy Spirit during their “first” lifespan but their time is coming. At the “second resurrection,” they will have the opportunity to “live again” (Ezek. 37; Rev. 20:11-12). Herbert Armstrong saw that verses like these and others make it plain that everyone who has ever lived will be given an opportunity to know that Christ came and paid the death penalty for them (Rev. 13:8). They’ll be allowed to accept His sacrifice for their sins and they’ll have 100 years to prove they want to live differently than they did during their first lifetime (Is. 65:20).
  11. The Millennium: The Kingdom of God will rule over all nations on earth (Zech. 14:9-21). Christ, with His new “Wife” (Rev. 19:7-9), will rule and bring prosperity to the entire planet (Is. 35:1-10; Rev. 2:26; 20:6). Now the Sardis era Church members understood the time duration, but because they did not fully grasp the meaning of Christ’s “Kingdom message” (Mt. 24:14), they knew little in the 1930s about what the Millennium would be like. Little did they realize that with the “god of this world” and his influence locked away for the entire time (II Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; Rev. 20:3), salvation will finally be open to all for the first time since Adam sinned and God closed access to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22-24).
  12. It is God’s Holy Spirit that “begets us” and makes it possible to understand: Herbert Armstrong saw that it was God’s Holy Spirit that opens our minds to God’s Word so that we can finally understand the Bible. He came to understand—as I Corinthians 2:9-11 makes indelibly clear, that “eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has in store for us.” It is only God’s Holy Spirit combined with our human spirit that makes spiritual understanding possible. Spiritual knowledge comes from the Bible, but no one can truly understand it until their mind is activated by God’s Holy Spirit.
  13. We are only begotten now, not born again: We are heirs, not yet inheritors. The Holy Spirit begets us as children of God, but we are not yet “born again” (John 3:6).
  14. The Identity of Modern Israel: What are America’s roots? What is our national identity? We are Manasseh, one of the lost 10 tribes of Israel. Numerous other groups have some knowledge of this truth, but no one ever understood it or taught it like Herbert Armstrong did. Sadly the Sardis members actually rejected this truth. Mr. Armstrong wrote up the proof in an article and sent it to the leader of that church. You can see a copy of his response to Mr. Armstrong’s in volume 1 of his Autobiography.
  15. Prophecy can be understood only if you know that we are modern Israelites: It was (and is) through his book, the United States and Britain in Prophecy, where we learned about that one third of the Bible referred to as Bible prophecy. In other words, once we know who the modern descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Israel are, we can finally understand Bible prophecy and how so much of it applies to our time today. Take Jeremiah 30:7 for instance. Once we know who “Jacob” is and once we know that the “time of Jacob’s trouble” refers to the soon coming Great Tribulation, then we can finally realize how important it is that we awaken from our slumber and repent of our sins both individually and nationally.
  16. The annual Feast Days: What other church knows about them or keeps them? Where did you hear it from? God revealed these days to Herbert Armstrong. For seven years he and his wife kept the annual Holy Days alone. And for seven more years, they kept God’s Holy Days with the Church in Eugene, Oregon, before God revealed their meaning. Thereafter, it was not until the end of World War II that they began to see that we had to get away from our homes for the Feast of Tabernacles. These Holy Days picture the seven major events in God’s plan of salvation (Lev. 23).
  17. The authority of the sacred calendar, preserved by the Jews: Before Mr. Armstrong revealed this to the Sardis era members, they were confused as to when the year should begin. Mr. Armstrong also made clear the importance of the Jews’ preservation of the weekly cycle.
  18. Second and third tithe: What other church obeys God’s tithing instructions (Mal. 3:10)? Yes, the Sardis brethren understood the first tithe but they had no understanding for the purposes of the second and third tithes. The second tithe is primarily saved up throughout the year for attending God’s Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 14:22-23).  The third tithe is sent in to support the needy in God’s Church (i.e. widows, orphans, etc.). The third tithe is only submitted during the third and six years of a seven year cycle (Deut. 26:12).
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