Ronald Weinland

Yet we know the outcome of such warnings, as with all warnings God has given through time. Nearly all people have simply ignored them, and they most certainly have not believed they came from the Eternal God. That is the true witness—the testimony for judgment—of mankind’s 6,000 year history.

The only ones who have truly benefited from warnings are those who are “in” the Body of Christ and who have not been separated from it because of unrepentant sin. There are also those through time who have benefitted from God’s warnings such as those whom He has drawn. There are yet others as well, with whom God was working out some greater purpose to be accomplished in His plan. This also is the true witness of those who have actually profited from God’s warnings.

Since we are in the prophetic Day of the Eternal, which is the time in which God will execute His final judgment that ends 6,000 years of man’s self-rule and refusal to hear God, there is no need to any longer warn anyone of what is to come. God’s final prophetic day is about His execution of judgment, with no more endless unheeded warnings. As final end-time judgment has come upon this world to chasten and humble it, God’s Church would be wise to remember that we continue to be under God’s judgment as well.

The judgment upon God’s Church is not to chasten as it now will be with the world, but to save, as we willingly enter into God’s judgment by examining and proving ourselves before God (2 Cor. 13:5 & 1 Cor. 11:28-32). Therefore, we are to continue seeking God’s guidance, correction, admonition, and inspiration in the “way” He leads and directs us. This defines much about how we enter into God’s judgment willingly. It is for this reason that posts are now directed more fully to God’s people and those being drawn by Him–those who have ears to hear.

1260 Days of Witness
Over the past four years, God’s Church has learned much more about God’s definition and purpose of a “witness.” It is good to be reminded of the second book God gave to be written in this end-time and the title He inspired it should have: 2008-God’s Final Witness.

Many have mocked, misunderstood, and misrepresented that title. As time moved forward from December 14, 2008, and further into the prophetic 1260 days for God’s two witnesses, even some in God’s Church began to think the title was not appropriate. There is a great lesson to be learned from this concerning prophetic writing God inspires. Prophetic writings are prophetic up unto the time they actually come to pass. Some stumbling has occurred when individuals have believed that this book was a complete and thorough explanation of end-time prophecy. It was not! It largely contains much prophetic writing that is still prophetic, but clearer and more extensive than any time in the past.

God has shown His people that His word is progressively revealed. The entire Bible is written in such a manner. Abraham was given prophetic promises and very basic understanding about God’s plan. By the time Moses came on the scene, God began to reveal much more than what was given to Abraham. Then in the time of the kings of Judah and Israel, God continued to reveal more and more through the prophets, although little of it was understood because most was written for this end-time.

When Jesus Christ began to teach and give even more detail concerning prophecy and God’s purpose, a giant leap forward was made in all the revelations of God. This was quickly followed by the writings of the apostles with even more detailed prophetic writings and extensive revelation of God’s spiritual way of life for His Church.

This process of God revealing His will and plan has always been progressive through time. When a person begins to grasp and “see” this process at work, God’s word becomes so much more exciting and fulfilling. This provides an added dimension to the beauty and inspiration of God’s work.

A Final Witness
This brings us up to the period of the end-time. When God brought Herbert W. Armstrong onto the scene in the era of Philadelphia, He revealed yet far more of His purpose and plan through him. Toward the end of his life, Mr. Armstrong wrote his final book, Mystery of the Ages. That book outlined and expounded upon the plan and purpose of God far more concisely than ever before.

When it came time for the prophecy of Christ in Matthew 24:14 to be fulfilled, God mightily clarified and simplified His message (the good news, the gospel) that was to go out into all the world. God’s purpose at that time was to more fully reveal His plain truth to the world. Though that message was made plain, the result was still the same for how God’s truth was received. The work God did through Mr. Armstrong (and the Worldwide Church of God) served to magnify the witness and reason for God’s fast approaching judgment that would be executed just prior to His Son being sent to become King of kings.

It was from the ruins of a prophesied apostasy in God’s Church that God raised up His final witness against mankind. That apostasy came in a manner that no one could remotely foresee, even though the Church was taught that it would come before Christ’s return. In like manner, the Church was also taught that God would raise up witness (two witnesses) just before Christ’s coming. That too did not come in a way that any could remotely foresee. As a matter of fact, it came in a way that most rejected.

The “way” God leads can never be foreseen by mankind until God reveals it. God has purposed it to be that way for the very purpose of revealing who follows Him in spirit and in truth and who does not. Only God can reveal “His way,” and all must then choose whether they will follow.

So God raised up an end-time witness in a small remnant from the apostasy. It was one that had no real preeminence in the Church. God did not work with that which was “recognized in stature” that had existed in the Church prior to the apostasy, but with that which was not well known and that was low in stature. Not only that, but God even raised up a woman to be one of His final witnesses. This proved to be too much for others who were scattered. To such people it was absurd and ludicrous that God would raise up two lowly people to be His end-time witnesses, let alone that one should be a woman and that both would be husband and wife. It is truly amazing when this is seen for what it is, that people can so presumptuously decide what God can and cannot do, rather than to seek why He does as He wills.

Judgment Follows the Final Witness
For 1260 days in this end-time, God gave his final witness against mankind that fully revealed and magnified the righteousness of His final judgment that would be executed before His Son returns. Over this period of time, God condensed a final witness that fully reflects the past 6,000 years of man’s true spirit toward God.

The primary work to establish a “final witness” through two end-time prophets, whom God set up to produce that witness against mankind, was also reflected in the lives of those who have shared in it in the Church of God – PKG. A question that should be asked once that witness was completed by May 27, 2012, is: “What follows the witness God established during that 1260 days?”

It should move you to the core of your being to grasp a further revelation God has given concerning how He is fulfilling His prophetic word through this final end-time. The witness God established during the 1260 days led directly into God’s last prophetic day which is from Pentecost of 2012 to Pentecost of 2013 as the Day of the Eternal, the “day” of God’s end-time judgment upon mankind. How incredibly awesome this is in structure, meaning, and fulfillment. God has meticulously planned for how He will usher in His Kingdom to govern this earth at the return of His Son.

One More Great Lesson
For those who were newly called during this period of witness in that 1260 days, there is a sobering lesson to be learned. Though the Church of God whom God awakened after the apostasy was small, God has now clearly revealed that what He added in larger numbers to His Church during that prophetic period was for an additional great purpose. Certainly those whom God calls are for His greatest purpose which is to share in His begotten Family until they can be born into it. But there is an additional purpose that God is now giving understanding of.

It is no small thing that over a period of one year toward the beginning of the prophetic 1260 days of witness that God called a large number to such a small body that had continued since the apostasy. In that short period of time, God called more people to baptism than what all three of the largest scattered groups combined had themselves baptized.

There is no purpose of addressing the validity of the latter baptisms, but to simply show the incredible contrast of what God did with His small Church. With the three groups combined, the contrast in size was a hundred to one–the “one” which is what God magnified. Yet God drew more than what those organizations had seemingly grown by. Add to that the reality that a large number of those in these three groups were from within their organizations and not new as with those whom God drew to Himself out of the world.

God is now revealing that the additional purpose of those called during this prophetic period is also a “witness” concerning God’s Church. As the witness during this prophetic period was about the true witness of this world over the past 6,000 years, so is this period a witness of the Church over the past 2,000 years. That which has happened to those whom God has called over the past 2,000 years has also happened to those whom God has called during the 1260 days of witness.

Just as Christ described would happen to those whom God called, the wicked one has snatched away what had been sown in the heart (the mind) of some. Others received the word of God as if it were sown in a strong place and were excited at first, yet did not become rooted in the truth as they should have, and as soon as difficult trials came to them they stumbled. Then some received God’s word as those among thorns, and after a while the cares of the world pulled them away. Thankfully to this point in time, the greater majority has taken root and has been growing and producing fruit.

This latter group God has called has had the benefit of much more progressive revelation given to them whereby they have had far greater opportunity to “see” more clearly than any of their predecessors. The “way” has been made easier for them because of those who have struggled and paved the way before them, though the battle is still great in this world in this end-time. In all this, there is the witness of what Christ said would happen to those whom God called.

If you are new in God’s Church because you were called after the apostasy, then there is a great lesson to learn in all this. You are living as a witness of the past 2,000 years of God’s Church. That which has been experienced in all seven eras has been experienced in God’s Church over the past four years.

Indeed this is a magnified moment in time that is clearly defining who you are. All should cry out to God for the help to always receive His guidance and correction, and seek determination to continue to the end, as well as growing in spiritual strength in order to be a faithful and true witness to the coming of Jesus Christ.