18 RESTORED TRUTHS

The legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong

(as printed in the August 25, 1986 Worldwide News)


“Where would we be without these truths? Without them without Herbert W. Armstrong's legacy of these 18 restored truths - there isn't much left.” - Joseph W. Tkach, 1986.

1] The government of God. When Christ comes, He will restore God's government to the whole earth. So you can be sure the one to come in the spirit and power of Elijah would restore God's government in His Church. When Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong came among the Oregon Conference era of the Church of God (Seventh Day), the church had the right name, the law, the Sabbath and the tithing system. But they also had a government of men, with a biannual conference, voting just like they do in the world.

Today, the government of God has been restored to His Church. That's the kind of government you find in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12.

2] The Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been restored after 1,900 years. The Church of God (Seventh Day) did not have a clear understanding of the Gospel; they emphasized what they called a "third angel's message."

3] The purpose of God, that we are to be born of God and become God. God is reproducing Himself, and no other church on earth knows that or preaches it. As a counterfeit they talk about being already bom again. Christ is the firstborn of many brethren. Has anyone else been born again by a resurrection from the dead like He was?

4] Who and what is God? The Jews think God is one person. Many people mistakenly think that God the Father is the God of the Old Testament and then Christ came as His Son. Traditional Christianity believes in the trinity, that the Holy Spirit is a person. God is neither one person nor a trinity. God is a Family into which we may be bom and also become God. His Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the begotten children of God. And when we are born of God we will not even be able to sin.

5] What is man? Do we have an immortal soul? Or are we just an animal? What happens at death? The dead are unconscious and they don't know anything. The Church of God (Seventh Day) people understood some of what happens at death, but not fully. They believed that man did not have a spirit. That's been explained more fulIy now.

6] The human spirit in man. What makes the difference between a human mind and an animal brain is that there is a human spirit with the human brain. That spirit is not the conscious part of the man. And it needs to be united with the Spirit of God.

7] The Church is only the firstfruits, and not the end of God's plan of salvation. God isn't trying to save the whole world yet. It starts with us, and we're being taught and trained so that we, under Christ, will be the teachers and rulers when Christ comes to rule in the Millennium, when He starts to save the rest of the world.

We have the great opportunity of being made God and, in the future, to rule over others and teach them and help them be converted so they can become children of God, also. And those who are converted during the Millennium will, with us, be kings, priests and teachers for the rest of the world that will be resurrected after the end of the Millennium.

8] The Church is not yet the Kingdom of God, but we are the embryo that will become the Kingdom of God.

9] Only those whom God the Father calls and draws to Him can be converted now. No other church knows that or believes it. That's another truth restored to the Church through Mr. Armstrong. None of us had ever heard that before, except as we got it through Mr. Armstrong. Only those God chooses and calls now can come in and become part of the firstfruits. Satan has deceived the whole world, and the Church is called out of the world.

10] The resurrection to judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment. God has a plan to save those who have not had an opportunity for salvation and who are now dead in their graves. They have not had the Holy Spirit. Their time is coming. But our time comes first, and we have to fight the devil, and they won't.

In the judgment, they'll be found guilty and condemned to death. They'll have their first chance to know that Christ came and paid the death penalty for them. They'll be allowed to accept that payment, and they'll have 100 years to prove they want to live differently than they did in their first life. They can be saved at last.

11] The Milllennium. The Kingdom of God will rule nations on earth, and Christ and the saints will nile and bring prosperity to the entire earth. The Church of God (Seventh Day) understood the time duration, but, because they did not adequately grasp the full meaning of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, they knew little in the 1930s of what the Millennium would be like. Salvation will be open to all for the first time since Adam sinned and God closed off the tree of life.

12] The Holy Spirit coming into us only begets us. It opens our minds so we can understand the coded book, the Bible. Eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has in store for us, described briefly in the Bible. God does reveal them to His Church by His Spirit that resides in us. Without that Spirit we cannot understand the Bible. Spiritual knowledge comes from the Bible, but by the 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.

14] The identity of modern Israel. What are America's roots, 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 major denomination does. The Church of God (Seventh Day) officially rejected this truth. Mr. Armstrong wrote up the proof in an article and sent it to the leader of that church. You'll find a copy of the leader's letter in response in Mr. Armstrong's autobiography.

15] Prophecy can be understood only if you know that we are the Israelites, and what prophecies apply to us and which do not. Others who do not know Israel's identity can't understand, for example, the 30th chapter of Jeremiah and scriptures like that, which show the Great Tribulation will be the time of Jacob's trouble.

16] The annual festivals, the feast days. What other church knows about them or keeps them? Where did you hear it from? God revealed it to Mr. 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.

It was not until the end of World War II in 1945 that they began to see that we have 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. How many of us would have kept God's days for 14 years without fully understanding their meaning?

17] The authority of the sacred calendar, preserved by the Jews. Before Mr. Armstrong revealed this to the Church of God (Seventh Day), 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 knows these points? The second tithe is for God's feast days. Other churches do not keep the feasts, so they have no reason to have second tithe. Third tithe is for the needy, primarily within God's Church.