Steve,
I am under the impression that your endorse the World Wide Church of God or its break offs? I suffered under the Armstrong era and unfortunately still have family in the system. After those days I left “religion” altogether and spent several years going my own way. However, God has always had his hand on me and continued to call me into a relationship with Him. I never left my desire to study God’s word and later on became a pastor.
I understood you to say that you do not endorse any church/denomination, is that correct? Your studies are very informative and right down my alley of thinking as well as my preaching. You are the first writer that I am aware of that has pretty much nailed the end time scenario.
What is your position on the Sabbath in modern day?
Do you know who any of the two witnesses are and if you do how can you determine that?
Thanks
Robert Humphrey
MYREPLY
Dear Robert,
I was in the Worldwide Church of God from 1969-78, but that was a long time ago. My website does not reflect the views (nor is it supported by) the current WCG or any of its spin-off entities. My website represents a viewpoint completely independent of the dogmas or hierarchies of any religious organization or church. I have a “primacy of the scriptures” approach and I endeavor to apply the historical narratives of the Bible and its prophetic scriptures to the facts of ancient history and to the realities of modern geopolitics. I see complete harmony between a literal understanding of the Bible and historical/modern/scientific realities. It is my hope that people in all religious perspectives will have their faith in God/Yahweh strengthened via my research and writings.
In response to your other questions, I observe the Seventh-Day Sabbath as my “rest day,” but I also have seen abundant evidence that God’s Holy Spirit works through people in Sunday-keeping churches and organizations we well. It is my view that Christians/believers have tended to be too exclusivist in perspective. God/Yahweh is sovereign and it is His right to decide what knowledge to reveal to each individual in their personal walk with their Creator. Revelation 2-3 confirms that God’s Spirit can work through a variety of belief systems–the seven churches of Asia Minor had divergent doctrinal persuasions and some had outright heresies, but Christ still acknowledged all of them as “his” churches. If you have not done so, I suggest you read my recent article “Jesus Christ’s Five Warnings to Latter-Day Believers” as it examines Christ’s teachings about what matters most in his judgment of believers.
Concerning the Two Witnesses, I can state categorically that I do not know who they will be. God will reveal them on his timetable and in a manner which he, the Creator determines. As I’ve said to others who have asked me this same question: They will be revealed by the deeds of the Holy Spirit working through them, not by self-praising press conferences. Revelation:5-6 prophesy that the enemies of the Two Witnesses will be supernaturally slain and these Two Witnesses will be able to “smite the earth with plagues as often as they will.” This language indicates these two prophets will be delegated the right to wield unprecedented Divine powers in this earthly realm. Clearly, no one is doing these deeds yet. There is also an article about “The Two Witnesses” at my website (see Articles tab) which examines their prophesied ministry in considerable detail.
Steve
