Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 06) Sep-Oct

8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 06) Sep-Oct

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More About Our Cover.

Th e U ni ver s it y

of

Mexi co ( La U ni ver s i dad N ac i o -

na l Au t dnon t o de Mdxico), w i t h an enro l l m en t o f

over

100,000

s t uden t s, i s one o f t he la rgest an d bes t - know n

universities in the wor ld . S ituated on the south s ide o f Mexico

City, a tourist mecca boast ing over 7,000,000 residents , the

university is a symbol o f L at in Am ericas s truggle to f ind i ts

p lace in todays mo de rn world. O ur cover featur es the color-

fu l library bui ld ing wh ich i s to ta l ly covered w i th mur als an d

mosaics - l ively blend

of

A z t e c , S p a n i s h a n d m o d e r n m o -

t if s. I t was in Mexi co C i ty t ha t t he Sp an i s h Work s f ir s t o f i ce

in a L a t i n country

L ~ S

stabl ished. Read about the fascinat-

i n g hi st or y o f t he S p a n i s h W o r k in the lead art icle.

Ambassador College

Photo

What

our

READERSSAY

Dear Mr. Armstrong:

I

just wanted to

take a moment from your busy schedule

to

tell you how mu ch

I

appreciate all the wor k

that you, Garner Ted, and all the people

who work at the college are doing for us.

I

have been

a

member of the Church of God

for al111osr

a

year. I dont know what I

would be doing now if I hadnt been shown

the truth; probably dru gs and rock festivals

would have been my scene, or else married

to

an irrcsponsiblc boy. But now

I

am striv-

ing

to

overcome my human nature and

grow

to

have good character

so

I can help

others when

Jesus

Christ will rule the earth.

And I cant wait until that day arrives

I have been blessed this past year by

striving to

follow all the commandments.

S o

I

just say thank you from the bottom

of my heart.

I

hope we will continue to

produce the good quality literature that

God has provided for us, to help others

change their lives too. My prayers will

a l w a y s he with you and all the hrethren

around the world.

P . F. , Kettcring, Ohio

I am

1 5

years old and a freshman in high

school.

As

of yesterday my parents have

been in the church one year. Last years

Feast

of

Tabernacles was our first. At first I

didnt want to go because

I

didnt want to

leave my friends at school and

I

really

didnt know any kids in the churc h. But

I

can say that I learned more there and had

more fun than ever in my life. I hated to

come back home. It really shook me up to

compare kids fun here and the kind of fun

we had a t Big Sandy.

Right now as I write this I think back to

when we first started going

to

church.

1.0

me it was

a

big bore.

I

felt s o rry for myself

because it happened to me. Gradually

I

liked being around these people more and

more. It seemed to me I did nt have as

much fun with my school friends anymore.

As much as I hated to admit it,

I

really liked

my new life. I didnt want to tell anyone

because at first I let my parents know I

didnt like this

one

bit. When I finally did

tell them,

I

felt better and so did they

Now that

I

understand things better

I

would like for you to

enroll

me in your new

Bible Correspriderice Course. Right n o w I

am reading G o d Speaks

Out

O n

the

N e w

Morality. I am enjoying this very much.

Teen-ager , Odessa,

Tcxas

I

have been listening to your broadcast,

reading your literature, and attending Sab-

bath services for approximately eleven

years. I have jusr gone along, under-

standing the principles and seeing how, if

applied, they could make for a happy and

successful life.

I

have always looked at other

people and seen how, if they would d o this

or that, their life could be happier. But, up

until now,

I

could never get it through my

thick head that if I would apply all these

lessons and principles

to

my life, it could be

a fulfilling and happy one. I dont know

what opene d my eyes, but I suddenly began

to

realize that

I

had better start obeying

Gods laws.

Since the age of five or six, I have gradu-

ally learned more and more truths from the

Bible through your great work and also

from my parents.

I

am only too happy that

God saw fit to wake me up to my self-

righteous attitude and make me see what I

have been doing all these years. Oh,

I

have

Feasts, but never with the right attitude.

Ive always done it for a selfish reason

-

that maybe I will be blessed. My parents

havc bccn and arc now bcing blessed.

I

obeyed my parents as much as I had to in

order to get by. They are wonderful people

and have tried

to

show me that I cant do

pletely and wholeheartedly.

I

am now sev-

(Continued on

page

1 3 )

t i t h d X I ld kept Lllr Sabbdlll a d uur lu L h r

just

what

I

have

to;

Ive

got

to obey com-

Tb=

Good News

International Magazine of

THE CHURCH OF GOD

ministering to its memben

scattered abroad

September-Oc obcr

1972

Volume

XXI

Number

6

rvblishcd ac Pasadena. Cal i f or nia

9 7 2

Worldwide

Church

of God

EDITOR

HERBERT .

ARMSTRONG

MANAGING EDITOR

David J on Hill

SENIOR EDITORS

Roderick

C.

Meredith

Albert

J.

Porrune

Herman L. Hoeh

Associate Editors

Richard H. Sedliacik Konald Kelly

Contributing Editors

David Alberr Dennis G. Luker

David L. Antion Ernest L. Martin

Dibar K. Aparrian Leslie

L.

McCullough

Frank Brown Bill L. McDowell

Alfred E . Carrozzo Raymond F. McNair

c.Wayllr Colt. L. Leius Nefl

Raymond C. Cole Richard F. Plache

William Dankenbring John E .

Por tune

Ronald

L .

Dart John Robinson

Charlcs V . D o r o t h y

Paul S.

R o y c r

Charles F . Hunring Norman A . Smith

Paul W. Kroll Dean R . Wilson

Robert

L.

Kuhn Clint C. Zimmerman

Lawson C. B r i g s . Copy Editor

Thomas Haworth. A r t Editor

B U S I N E S S M A N A G E R

Alherr

J

Porriinr

A L ) I ) R ~ S SL L C O M M I ~ N I C A I I O N S to thc Ediror. P. 0

B o x

1 1 1 .

Pssideni . Ci l i forni i

91

109.

Canadian members should address P.

0.

Box

44

Station A. Vancouver 1,

B.

C.. Canada.

Our members in Unircd Kingdom. Europe, anc

Africa should address the

M i t o r .

P.

0.

Box 111. St

Albans. Herts . . England.

Sout h Africa: P. 0 Box

1060.

Johannesburg

Transvaal. R. S A .

Members

in

Australia and Southeast Asia shouk

addrcsr rh c Ediror,

G . P. 0.

Box 345. Sydnes.

NSW

2001. Ausrralia.

In the Phil ippines, P. 0.

B o x

1111. Makari

Rizal D-708.

Rl.

S I I R I .

TO

N n T l F Y

19

I M M F I ~ I A ~ I - I Y

f a n y

rhgngr

in your address. Please include borh old and nea

addre ss . IMP O RT ANT


3/20

THE

SPANISH WORK

THEN AND NUW

Just how and when d id the Spanish Work begin? Whom

did God use

to r a i s e

it up? W h a t g r o w t h has t aken

place

thus f a r , and what must be done in the future? The Director

of the Spanish Department of the Foreign Educational

Service answers these questions in this interesting and

informative report.

by

Charles

V.

Dorothy

ow AB OUT a trip to exot ic South

Lets see how

you

have d on e in pre-

America? Surely youve heard paring for your trip. First

of

all , South

of the country called Sou th looking at a map now ), that l ine America is no t a country. of course,

bu t a huge

continent

in which are nine

merica he land of Spanish

seiio-

r i ta s , hot tacos , chi li peppers, the g iant (a ) throu gh the cente r of South Span ish-spe aking coun tr ies , Por t u-

cataract called IguasG Falls, sleepy America. gues e-spea king Brazil, Eng lish-sp eakin g

QUESTION

: I f we draw a l ine due

south f rom the s ta te

of

Florida (n o fair

would pass

H

natives under a cactus, the

end of the wor ld of

Cape Horn and the Straits

of Magellan, the famous

Mardi Gras

of

Rio

Wouldn t i t be exc i t -

i ng

to

travel there? W ell ,

then, take

out

a

pencil

and paper (not

a

suitcase

and air l ine ticket) and we

will travel to this exotic

area to see what God is

accomplishing there.

Test Yourself

To c o m p r e h e n d t h i s

area better and

to

under-

s tand how God is work-

ing in this vast part of the

world, you need

to

b e

able to answer a few ques-

tions

to

put yourself in

t h e p i c t u r e . D o n t b e

afraid

of

the test i t

wont spoil your tr ip even

Guyana and two semi-

colonies (Surinam and

Guiana). Latin America is

a

term which includes

C e n t r a l A m e r i ca a n d

Mexico in

North

America,

as well as th e Spanish and

Portuguese-speaking parts

of South America. (The

r e a lm o f t he S pa n i sh

W o r k c o n s i s t s

of

2 3

Spanish-speaking nations

in the world, including

S p a i n a n d t h e S p a n i s h

Sahara.)

If you said you would

go south from your loca-

t i o n

wherever

t h a t

might be in the United

States or most of Canada

you are only partly

r ight. You would have

to

go

SouthEAST. Your line

due

sou th from

would pass WEST of the

Ambassador College Photo

Dr. Charles Dorothy right) Director

of

the Spanish Department, con-

fers with Mr. Enrique Ruiz, manager

of

our office

in

Mexico City.

if you dont know 811 the answers.

(b ) to the west of Sou th America, Panama Canal, barely touc h the west-

QUESTION I :

Spanish, wit h several missing most of the continent.

ernmost t ips of Ecuador and Peru and

slight variations, is spoken throughout

(c) thro ugh the eastern t ip of Brazil , remain in the Pacific Ocean,

mzssing the

South America. Tr ue or False? missing most

of

South America.

whole landmass

u

South America

QUESTION:

If you are in the U. S.,

QUESTION

: Brazil is larger than For the answer to the final question,

which direction would you

go

from the continenta l United States. Tr ue or Brazil, occupying nearly on e half of the

your area to arrive in So ut h Am erica? False? con tinen t, includ ing its easternmost


4/20

2

T h e GOOD NEWS

September-October 1072

part,

IS

larger than continental United

States.

Now tha t you a re coming a long

with me on this armchair tr ip, I a m

tempted

to

recite some of the exciting

history of these intriguing lands south

d s l r s h ~ u h : B u s 1 i W U U I ~ M ~ C

any

articles

to

cover the exciting adventures

of the first man

to

a t t e m pt

to

explore

South America (Ojcda in 1500), or

Orellanas almost legendary sail do wn

the Amazon River from Peru in 1541

a nd h i s

account

of t he top le s s

women, ca l led Amazons , wi th whom

he fought. (Since no pictures were

taken of them, people s t i l l doubt he

saw what he c la imed) . W e could

go

o n

to

the great l iberatot and world-gov-

ernment visionary, Simnn

Rnlivar,

and

the heroic struggle of the mestizos and

cr i o l l o s

f o r i n d e p e n d e n ce , b u t

a las .

. .

tha t must

be

for another t ime.

W h at interests us now is the history

of Gods Work in the vast Spanish-

speaking areas of the world.

How the Spanish Work Began

T h e S p a n is h D e p a r t m e n t h a s a

som e wha t p r iv i l e ge d p l a c e in t he

annals of th e Church of G od , Philadel-

phian era . I t star ted with

two

men

Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong and Dr .

Benjamin

L.

Rea ( then M r . Rea)

and a fac t -f indi rg tour to

South

Amer-

ica in 1954. The ir tour produced two

clear-cut results: a first-hand familiarity

with Lat in cul ture and wi th ant i-Amer-

icanism; and a conviction that our

Spanish neighbors were rapidly devel-

oping ties with our r ising competitor ,

Europe.

Back in those days the foreign

work (as we called i t then; now the

Fvieigii EducdEiuIial Service under Mr.

Ronald Dart) was striving for firsts,

that is, new breakthroughs in carrying

thc t ru th

to

t he wor ld . Due

to

Dr .

Reas dogged perseverance, by 1958 we

had a good number of Spanish book-

lets ( including the Wo rks f irst booklet

in any foreign language) and we were

a1 3 L d i i Sf,2Ti?M .ir u llb 4 , r n i Z

in

the Spanish language Th at radio

doo r was anoth er first for th e foreign

work in this age. The Spanish Depart-

mcnr enjoyed 2 heavy

share

of

firsts

in its early days.

For those of you who may no t kno w

or remember,

Dr.

Rea was

a

Louisiana-

born American with a Spanish-sound-

ing name. In the service he became a

medical corpsman and was wounded

on Iw o J ima dur ing W or ld W ar 11.

Re turning to civilian life, he received a

master3 aegree

In

internatlbnal Eco-

nomics and Business Administration

f rom LnuLGna.

. MC

I h j x c n j q

in.

1948.

Soon

a f r a t a king

a

position as an

investigator for about 300 insurance

companies in Louisiana, he came in

contact with the Church of Go d. Seig-

ler Springs, California, in 1952, was his

first Feast of Tabernacles. The follow-

ing

Passover

in Texas he was hired

as

Professor of Spanish for Ambassador

College at Pasadena.

Cont inuing

to

s tudy and

work

dili-

gently summers and between sessions,

Dr. Rea received a Ph.D. in Spanish

f rom

La Universidad Interumckcunu

in

Mexico in 1960.

Dr. Rea was then transferred

to

England

in 1960

to

bc

a

pillar in the

raising up of

a

new college at Bricket

Wo od . H e al so c on t inue d w i th t he

Spanish Department. Structuring the

new college and nourishing the Span-

i s h W o r k , h e d r o v e h i m s e l f c o n -

s t a n t ly .

. . to

the detr iment of his

health. Suffering from very high blood

pressure and a severe heart condition,

Dr. Kea collapsed

and

dikd

ear ly In

1965, shortly after an upsetting inter-

v i e w wi th a ~

per-ces_utjnG mhm

reporter. His last act was performed on

behalf of the W or k he

so

dearly loved .

He

was a personal friend of mine

and

a fine

person

to he

associated w ith.

Most of a ll he was the one God origi-

nally used

to

build a four-year Spanish

program at Ambassador and

to

initiate

the Wor ld Tom or r ow p r og r am in t he

Spanish language.

The Spanish Broadcast

After Dr. Reas second trip

to

S ou th

America in 1957, his account o f i t was

published as a diary in the then 24-

page English-language

PLAIN

RUTH.

In i t he wrote :

W e are commanded to watch as we

see the end approaching (Matt.

2 4 : 4 2 ; Mark 13:35) . But before we

watch we must know what to look

for. . . . This, then, is the prime pur-

pose of the present

trip.

Another purpose is

to

lay the founda-

tion,

or

to break ground, as it were,

for the evangelization of the coun-

tries south of the frontiers

of

the

United States. This Gospel of the

Kingdom of God

must

be carried

to

these Gentile nations as a witness

before the return of Jesus Christ

(Watt.

L4411-4j.

mere

IS

nothing that

is more sorely needed by these people

than Gods truth. (The

tr ip

has

-dm. y

uunrr

iirun.

Yrdm -AX G i g

made and time is

being

negoriared

ro

begin broadcasting in South America

this coming January )

This broadcast did begin

soon

after

that time. It was heard at first only in

Montevideo, Uruguay and in Lima,

Peru a very

small beginning nd

ou r poor- time, once-a-week, 15-minute

El M U N D O DE M A I ~ A N A r og ra m

seemed

very

unpromising indeed. But

God

blessed that small effort. The

earliest records I now have (1957

before

we

began hroadcasting) show

a

total of 282 letters (including those

from Spanish-speaking people within

the United States borders). In 1958,

dfter

we began broadcasting, 474 letters

came in. That was a whopping 68%

increase. I remember ou r exciteme nt

our exultation: the Spanish Work is

alive

In 1959 the le tters jumped

to

664 or a 40% increase. Yet our income

for 1960 was a modest $1,607.48.

Reminds you of

Mr.

Armstrong and

the

~ O S ,

doesnt

i t?

For several more years we had star-

t l ing

growth

percentages like 149%,

118%, etc. , bu t o f course the size of the

Spanish W o rk was still very, very

sm a l l . The n c a m e the t r a g i c a nd

untimely death of Dr. Rea in England.

In March of 1965, Mr. Ted Arm strong

transferred the Spanish Department

to

Big Sandy under my direction.

. dx

S Y h k

1.1.

E.~&m

Ovflr

u5Kirg

Yours

Truly

As for my background,

I

graduated

from the University of Wa sh ing ton in

Seattle with a B.A. in Political Science,

an d

wab curIirIiissiuned as Second Lieu-

tenant in the Air Force Reserve. Then

I

My plan in

coming was

a

very un-

christian one: to strip the scales from

th e eyes of my lo ngt ime best f r iend and

adopted brother , David

Jon

Hill . His

embarrassing religion with i ts

emphasis on literally believing the

fi:a.TK

r56 d.mIb3xdx- .SO k&< 1R; C% .


5/20


6/20

4 The GOOD NEWS

September-October

1972

Bible seemed like a fraud to me.

Thinking

Mr.

Hill had been deceived,

I

boldly dared to think I might be able

to un-deceive him

Instead i t worked the oth er way

got un-deceived.

W it h four years of Spanish and two

years of Portuguese behind me, I con-

tinued Spanish classes at Ambassador

o u t

of sheer pleasure

in

that beautiful

language. W h e n D r. Rea was trans-

ferred to Bricket W o o d in 1960, i t fell

m y

Int

to

teach

t h e

Sp ni sh c lasses and

to supervise the fledgling depart-

ment, such as remained on the Pasa-

d e n a c a m p u s a t t h a t t i m e . A f t e r

receiving

a

Ph.D. in Latin American

Studies in 1963,

I

was sent as a faculty

member to help establish Ambassador

College at Big Sandy, Texas in 1964.

T h e S m a l le s t of M u s t a r d S e e d s

All this t ime we were planning

a

P L A I N

TRUTH

n Spanish. Those days

before the bir th of

L a

PURA E R D A D

( the S pan i sh P LA I N TR U TH) wer e

sometimes very dark indeed, but our

faithful department employees never

lost hope. Principally we never lost

hope because of the letters we received

from questionin g, excited, zealous and

ha ppy , o r de p r e s se d a nd p l e a d ing

human be ings .

The Spanish-peaking

people

kept us going.

W e maintained a mailing l ist by

sending ou t e i ther

a

monthly le tter or ,

as often as possible, a reprint article.

This l i s t had grown

to

almost 2,000

people when the department trans-

ferred from England

to

Big Sandy.

Brlicvc it UI-

~ i o t ,

c t houghr char was

an impressive figure T he next year i t

grew to 3,000 and in 1967,

to 4,500

an incrcasc

of 50% cvcry

ycar

T h a t

growth rate seemed phenomenal, con-

sidering the critical problems we faced

not

even one office in a Latin coun-

try, mail delays of up

to

three months ,

and long waits between published articles.

There was no advertising in period-

icals, nor were we on top radio stations

till, a tr ickle of mail kept coming.

T h e

stations

continued broadcasting

and re-broadcasting Dr. Reas tapes

even though we repeatedly wrote them

and even personally visited them atking

them to stop playing

old,

near4 worn-out

tapes

Ihen in

what

seems now like very

rapid succession (but at the time it

seemed such a slow, up-hill fight) three

things happened: we hired a broad-

caster, opened an office in Mexico City,

and began the Spanish PLAIN RUTH

rIiagaLinc, La PURA E R D A D .

While the department was gett ing

established in Big San dy, Jesus Christ

had been laying the groundwork for

something we thought would be a

long way

off

in th e futu re n office

in Latin America. Mr. Enrique Ruiz,

Mexican by birth, bilingual in English

and Spanish, and a former Arthur M ur-

ray

dance instructor from the Phoenix

area, came to Ambassador College and

graduated in 1967.

So i r

was

t ha t

M r

Ruiz, accom-

panied by his beautiful and artistic

wife , Holly, and their son and daugh-

ter, soon took up residence in exotic

Mexico City to staff and manage an

off ice which Mr. Ted Armstro ng and I

opened there in la te 1967.

O n an earlier baptizing tour for the

Spanish W o rk in 1962, D r. Rea had

m e t a tall, husky, jovial Puerto Rican

named Pablo Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez

was baptized at that t ime and contin-

ued working for the Government

Printing Office, never dreaming what

G od had in store for him. In 1967, he

was chosen by Mr. Ted Armstrong

to

become our broadcaster and moved to

the United States to work for the Span-

ish Department at Big Sandy. Mr.

Gonzalez, who ably assists me with

editor ial responsibil i t ies (along with

Mr. Victor Gutierez and Mr. Dennis

Pebworth, who is Managing Editor of

L a P U R A

ER DAD) ,

s

now (as we kid

him) a lmost

40

and is comple-

Aurea, and two pretty little girls.

Very shortly thereafter, on the 34th

anniversary

of

the bcginning of thc

English-language edition February,

1968 the first issue of

La

PURA

V E R D A D a m e

off

the press.

1llCllLCd

by lli5 V C r y

PlCASAnK

Wife ,

A Big B r e a k t h r o u g h

F r o m N o v e m b e r o f 1968 u n t i l

March of 1970, advertising in ReaderJ

Digest

Spanish editions swelled our

c i r c u l a t ion f r om jus t a hou t 6 , 000

total subscribers

to

nearly 90,000

the largest response to ads for any of

t h e f o r e i g n l a n g u a g e d e p a r t m e n t s .

A

year later a vigorous renewal

pro-

gram endeavored to cut that list back

to

possibly 55,000, but we never again

hit as low as 75,000 circulation. Alm ost

myster iously, the growth equaled

that

is,

balanced

out

he canczlla-

tions I say my steriou sly because the

Spanish broadcast is aired o n only eig ht

radio stations and for only

1 5

minutes

once

a week.

I t is obvious that 1 5 minutes a week

will

not

bui ld much

of a

listening

audience. Furthermore, there is no

longer an advertising campaign in

Spanish and there has

not

heen

for

ouev

two years. STILL a P U R A E R D A D ON-

T I N U E S GROWING BY 2,000 NEW

SUB-

S C R I B E R S

A MONTH At the t ime of

this writing 100,000 subscribers are

receiving

La

P U R A

VER DAD world-

wide.)

Of course it is not entirely mys-

terious. First of all, God is blessing the

Spanish Work. Secondly, the Latins

have a free and o pen way of passing on

and spreading around whatever they

consider to be a good th ing. Wh i le a

British, Am erican or Australian reader,

for example, may tend to keep The

P L A I NTRUTHo himself, a Latin will

tend to share it with all his family and

his friends. A third factor is that there is

less com petit ion in Latin America from

high-q uality magazines. L a P U R AV E R -

DAD has som e virgin fields in wh ich to

expand

Into

S ou the r n S ou th Am e r i c a

Possibly the most exciting and far-

reaching first for us to ok place

through a strange set of circumstances

at the end of 1967. W e had been send-

a Seiior

Loje

of Lima, Peru, after he had

responded to our program o n radio

L a

Cronicu

in

Lima.

This small group of Peruvians liter-

ally believe themselves to be of full-

blooded Jewish descent

.

observing

the Jewish festivals, practicing c ircum-

cision (w ith ou t wh ich, they believe,

one cannot be saved), and

animal J a m -

f ices

-

but us ing New Testament

phraseology. They claim Christ as their

Savior, yet

very

milch

pracricc s a l v a -

tion by works.

(Cotit inned o n i l l

ride

bark

c o v e r

ing

l i L C l A L U K I 0

slllall

SCCL

1ICAdCd

by


7/20

Some parents ar e making a

fatal mistake in their

child

rearing and heading for

hear tbreak i n the y e a r s

ahead. You could be one of

them. I f merely mak ing

your children OBfDlENT

i s

pvPur

am - gum;

ytm-

i

qr ob ably find yourself wi th .

an uphil l batt le for

70-20

years, ending wi th great

disappointment and a tre-

mendous generation gap.

by

Robert

E Fahey

HAT DO you wish to accom-

plish in training your child?

Have you ever stopped to

W ha t ove rr id ing G O A L do you have

in mind as the u l t imate end point of

approximately twenty years of feeding,

clothing, protecting and teaching your

offspring from infancy on through

babyhood, childhood, teen-age?

Unless you can see, and consciously

work toward the

right

goal, r ight

results cannot be guaranteed.

W

ronsider,

W h a t

Is

t h e R i g h t G o a l ?

The overall purpose of your child

rearing should be to develop your chil-

dren into balanced, happy, mature,

well-adjusted,

GODLY

ADULTS. They

persons prepared for the responsibility

of

adul thood, and the

P RO BL E M S

of adul t -

+rvtJu.

Ideallv they should be able to take

their place in society without the hang-

ups and complexes

you

have had

to

fight all these years T ha t should be

your overall goal

So

how would you approach such a

goa l? Obviously the best of all exam-

ples to look

to

is that

of

your spiritual

Fatliri. Gud

L ~ K

Fallirr

is doing

a

great

deal

of

child rearing Himself . H e

+nil XCd

L V

hmw

Gq L;

1n\.hb.

knows how to d o it. H e has already

S U C C E E D E D

having reared

Abra-

ham, Moses, David, Daniel and many

others. His system

WORKS

M o r e T h a n J us t P u n i sh m e n t

a n d O b e d i e n c e

Some parents seem to think their

ln+~,liL5.i,-LwATw7x ;~mF LTk-j JcpcfrT L V

feel the only thing that counts is obe-

aience. W h y ? Actually i ts of ten just

because they are so selfish themselves.

Such parents just want their children

to

s ta y ou r o f t he i r ha i r no t to

bother them.

Others may strive

to

have obedient

chi ldren for vani tys sake . Whcn

friends or relatives visit, they show off.

S i t down Go to your room they

bark. Their children obediently trot off

to bed. Guests are supposed to be

impressed.

But what if the only

way

G o d

worked with you was through disci-

pline? W h at if every error received a

sound wha c k? Wha t if every

wrong

thought, selfish act, foolish mistake

resulted in

so

many swats? W ha t if not

one sin passed unnoticed and there

was no warmth, no love, no evidence

that God was concerned FOR

YOU,

except for a continual rain

of

swats,

spiritual spankings, and a constant neg-

ative

NO

booming in your ears?

You would become

so

discouraged,

so despondent and terribly UNHAPPY,

that if you did nt openly rebel, you

would turn inward, and shrivel up

miiihir y m i r uwn pwmdiy: ?7uu-

would feel that you could never really

accomplish what your Father expected

quit hying. Except ust enoug h to

keep from getting swats.

YO UR children will react th e same

way if treated that way An d you will

someday wonder why your children

w h o seemed so obedient as youngsters

have become so distant, so heartless and

unfeeling,

as adults.

Disciplirir alone W I L L

N U I

WUKK

Some parents have tr ied i t and ult i-

dl - p u . h Y r t 30 - p u w r r d l t p -h11y

mately have actually come

to

say some-

thing l ike this:

I

have spanked him

till I am blue in the face and he

still

doesnt obey me. Something more

important was

lacking.

Yo ur spiritual Father

i s

known

for

His

love and mercy

Even when H e punishes,

He

doesnt

gz

p a i h r5 mi y d*>L?CJL?

Rather , His heart is turned toward you.

H e

forgives. Do your

children think of

you as merciful, like your heavenly

Father? Is your heart turned toward

them arid thrir hcarts roward you with

warmth, trust and affection?

A charac te r is t ic of Gods t rue

Church, bearing to thc world the last

warn ing message before Christs return,

and preparing the way for His appear-

ance, is expressed in the prophecy

of

Malachi

4:6:

And he [speaking of the

combined W or k of Go d today] shal l

turn the heart of the fathers to the

children, and the heart of the children

to their fathers.

.

.

.

Is your sons or daughters heart

turned toward you?

Is

yours turned

toward him or her? If not, your

basic

approach

to

child rearing is wrong

Go d gives you more than mercy. H e

constantly works to

E N C O U R A G E

you.

H e makes you laugh. H e rewards your

efforts wit h blessings. Even tho ug h you

had much

to

unlearn as

a

newly bap-

tized Christian, but with

food intentions,

H e blessed you, leading you g radually

along the right way. This is the way

you must

do

with your children.

G h i U

ea-hg-

i ~yiylnsl~yi~ruus

l ir

LOVE and character building. Discipline

is a

part

of bo th . B u t

so

are encour-

q p m m t ,

-f irc


8/20


9/20

September-October 1972 The

GOOD NEWS 7

lhird,

teach

your

c h i ld

to DO

THINGS.

Ever

see

a young

boy

standing

awkwardly beside a sw imm ing pool

while

all

his friends are enthusiastically

in i t ?

He

cant swi m. H e is self-con-

scious. An outsider. And

veery

unhappy.

H e

is

also losing valuable leadership

training. Avoid allowing inferiority

and other personality complexes to

dc vc lop a c h h im to swim.

If possible , give him or her oppor-

tunity to go horseback riding. Teach

him 01 her to make things, such as

cookies and doll clothes for girls and

model airplanes and boats for boys.

Go o n

hikes, picnics, buy a kitc and

help him

f ly

i t , take him

to

sports

events.

Fourth, dcvclop

your

childs

intcr-

ests as fully as you are able. His whole

life will be richer.

He

will be able

to

mix wit h all kinds

of

people and realize

his full leadership potential. Did you

ever notice that the leaders in Gods

Church have

a

broad

range

of interests

and well-rounded personalit ies? Hel p

your child

to

becom e like Christ in this

as much

as in

o the r

ways.

Fifth, teach him the proper

use o

power.

Money is a form of power. Your

child should learn how to

use

it wisely.

A

car is power.

So

is a boat, roller

skates, BB gun or a bicycle. Children

will misuse

these

unless

trained.

Sixth, teach your child to FACE

T R I A L S

BRAVELY. A broken toy can be a

major

crisis

if youre four.

So r a n a

dead pet. Take t ime to put these

trials into perspective. A broken

toy

can open the door for you

to

explain

t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f b u y i n g q u a l i t y

items. O r proper care o f possessions.

O r even principles of m aintenance and

repair. The dead pet is different from a

dead human. Teach your child the dif-

ference. Just your sit t ing do wn and

explaining the overview will take

much of the s t ing out o f the t r ia l . I t

also narrows any potential generation

ga p .

Your own example in facing

YOUR

trials is also important. If you are

dressed

to go

out and your child spil ls

milk down your best outf i t Y O U

have a trial.

If

an otherwise genteel

mother becomes a screaming witch,

hurling abuse at a glass-shattering

pitch,

your

child learns

BY E X A M P L E

not

to face trials bravely. He will also tend

to fly apart in the face of trials.

Actions speak louder than words.

10

expect your child to stand firm in a

crisis, you must stand firm first.

Teach Them

to

Face the World

You should also teach your children

that thcrc arc problems in the world

-

horrible , heartrending problems. Then

d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t

GOD

H A S

THE

If someone becomes ill

or

involved

in an accident, T H E R E

A R E RE ASONS -

usually easily defin ed. Teach your child.

Show him the

cause

and

efect

principle.

Show him how to avoid the effect by

following Gods way of life in the

first

place. Older ch ildren will see girls drop

out of school, pregnant. Show them

the effect on the girl, her family, the

boy and his family and even on the

unborn child itself.

R u t take care All children are ideal-

istic. They view th e world throu gh

rose-colored glasses, and its a good

thin g they do. I f any of

us

could

scc

all

the evil, and all the trials and problems

ahead of us,

at once,

we would feel

defeated before we start.

T h e rose-colored glasses gradua lly

have to go. But remove them gent ly ;

dont rip them from their faces.

If you tell your child how rotten the

world is, he will likely not believe it is

so bad. And there is no purpose served

by shouting, You wait t i l l you have

to earn your own living, its

tough

o u t

there W h a t you say is true. Bu t you

will make more progress by

positive

instruction. Show the

FRUIT S

of the

wrong way. Point

to

the

F RUI TS

of the

r ight way. When

all the facts

are

presented, in an atmosphere of reason,

f e w c h i ld r e n w i l l knowing ly a nd

imperiously choose the automatic cur-

ses

of the wrong way.

It is up to y o u to maintain an atmo-

sphere of reason. If you continually

discourage your child, he will become

bitter and resentful. Then Satan can

more easily inf luence him. You must

keep an atmosphere of reason by being

reusonuble and fair yourself. God tells us

and lets always remember it

-

Fathers, provoke not your children to

ANSWERS.

anger, lest they be discouraged

(Col.

3 : 2 1 ) .

How to

Teach

O b e d i e n c e

Finally,

you should teach your chil-

dren obedience mainly by

setting them

an example of

respecr for rhe laws

of

God and man.

A s

God is doing wi th

you, teach them to respond quickly

whcn instructions are given. Be sule

you have your childs attention, then

tell him what you want him

to

do.

Back up

your

words with discipline

;f

necessary

n love.

Above all things, dont constantly

use the

phrase,

How many

times d o I

have

to

te l l you. .

.?

or D o you want

a spanking? ( ta lk about r idiculous

questions o wonder there

is

a gen

eration gap ) or If you dont do as I

said, I m going

t o . .

. hat is

NOT

effectively teaching

OBEDIENCE.

Instead, you are encouraging delayed

response, the psychology of last-min ute

escapes, the deathbed

repentance

syn-

drome.

You should also teach your children

the principle behind obedience. In

your

regular Bible studies, point out the

clear lessons of wh at h appened

to

those

who obeyed God and those who dis-

obeyed. Always stress this vital prin-

ciple so tha t th e lesson is always driven

home.

Remember your real goal is long-

t e r n ,

willing

obedience. It is not some-

thing short- term like gett ing your

child to go to bed. You certainly can-

not expect real lasting OBEDIENCE to

God or man if you take such a short-

sighted approach.

Keep your long-term goal in mind.

Solomon described it: My son, if your

heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice,

even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice,

when thy l;Ps

speak right things

(Prov.

23 : 15 - 16 ) . Solomon saw the proper

goal was more than temporary obe-

dience.

W he n your child , no longer a child,

reaches maturity and enjoys

a

life of

happiness, balance, wisdom and sound

judgment, without the cares and kick-

backs of disobedience, then you can say

that your child training has been a

success. You will have accomplished

he real goal of child rearing


10/20

TO

YOUNG

PEOPLE

b y

Tom Carrozzo

W

E N I was about five years old, I remember going

to literally dozens of churches with my parents.

First one a nd the n a nother . My dad was searching

for something, and I dont believe even he knew what .

O n e n i g h t o n o u r w ay to a sports arena in San Diego,

California, to hear an evangelist named Jack Shuler, my

dads twisting of the radio knob stopped abruptly as he

heard Mr. Herbert

W.

Armstrongs voice. Little did my par-

ents know that from that point forward our lives would be

drastically changed

At last my dad found what he had been searching for

My mother, however, did not share his enthusiasm. He is

just another crackpot, she retorted in regard to Mr.

Armstrong. (By this time, she had had i t with religion.)

But the fruits proved Mr. Armstrong was not just

another crackpot. A short time later both my parents were

baptized.

W ha t a dramatic change took place Suddenly we

could not observe Easter, Christmas, or any other pagan

holidays, nor could we eat pork, shrimp, lobster or clams.

O ur whole world was turned upside down My life was sud-

denly changed very abruptly and, I thought, cruelly. Over-

night I became an oddball and a freak.

I soon learned that I wouldn t ge t anywhere by telling

my classmates about the pagan origins of this worlds holi-

days,

or

about pork being unclean.

So

I decided

to

compro-

mzse. I would live a dual s tandard, one s tandard at home, and

one s tandard at school .

I had no idea

to

what ex ten t I would have to fight this

habit of dualism later on in life. However, for the time

being, the compromise theory seemed to work fairly well. I

took notes in Sabbath services, and everyone th ou ght I was a

g o o d boy. But when I was at school, I would act like all

the others.

When Valentines Day

came

around, I made valentines,

and I received them. But before I got home I got r id of

them. I sang Si lent Ni gh t at th e Chris tmas assembly w e

had a t school fter all , everybody else was singing, and I

didnt want to be different. And anyway, that was dads reli-

gion, and s ince he couldnt see w h a t I was doing while at

school, why kick the system? W h y go against what

l

my

friends were doing? It was a lot easier

to go

with the tide than to

stand up for what A d believed.

For

some reason, at age eight or

ten, it was far more important what my buddies thought of me

than what God thought, or what my dad thought.

My philosophy of life began to cause problems for me.

I found myself comprom ising more and more. I began m ak-

ing up stories about the times I missed school for the Holy

Days and became more and more a follower. My two best

friends were not teaching me anything good. They taught

m e

a

lot of nasty, dirty, vile litt le things that were the exact

antithesis of the way of peace of mind and true happiness.

Down, down, they pulled me to the depths of childish

depravity.

I

began a lonely, disappointing, h eartbreaking, fu-

tile search for some new thrill that could somehow give my

life more spice, more meaning, more of a kick.

A so ng that was popular when I was a teen-ager sh ould

have given m e

a

clue as to how far I would g et. It was called

Kicks. Part of the words were: Kicks just keep getting

harder

to

find, and all your kicks wont bring you peace of

mind; before you find out, i ts

too

late. Youd better get

straight, but not with kicks.

But somehow I just wouldnt listen.

I

had grow n up in

the shadow of the Ark,

so

to speak; I had grown up with

the words of Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong reverberat ing an d

echoing in my ears, and nothing he

or

my parents said had

any meaning

to

me.

I

had heard

i t

all before, and my only

hope was that I could get mine before the bombs fell .

The knowledge I had was not precious to me. I t had

turned me into a freak when I was in grade school, and i n

high school it kept me from having any fun.

So

I ran as far away as I could from the truth. I closed

my ears to it, and I had a good time.

O r di d I ?

I got into one kind of t rouble and then another when I

was in junior high and high school. The world was a

brightly wrapped package of tinsel and glitter that whis-

pered in my ear and enticed me

to

come and have my

611

of

the che ap thrills it had

to

offer. An d I was too weak to resist.

Yes, the thrills were cheap in that they had no real value

bu t what a bitter price I had

to

pay for them Th e price was

paid in mental and physical suffering that I would never

wish on anybody.

I spent countless nights lying in bed at night, staring

at the ceiling wondering if someone was going to f ind ou t

about the times I sneaked o ut a t night

to

ride my Honda in

the m ountains against my parents orders, or some thing else

I had done. W ha t had been sweet in my mo ut h became bit-

ter in my stomach, but so meh ow, after I had vom ited i t up,

I went back to i t and started the process all over again.


11/20

September-October 1972

The

GOOD

NEWS 7

I just wouldnt

learn the lesson.

The

worry, the heart-

ache, the trauma of gett in g caught did n ot even begin to

compare with the momentary kick of doing what was

wrong.

I cursed the fact that I had been t he child of a memb er

of

Gods Church.

I

knew

too

much, and everytime I did

something wrong,

1

knew what was coming.

W hy wouldn t Go d jus t leave me a lone? W hy couldn t

I

have a few minutes of pleasure here and there without

someone f inding out a bout i t , or wi thou t my ow n fee lings

o f

g u i l t

coming up

to

choke my good times away, turn-

ing them into a horr ible nightmare?

Why

did

i t

bothcr

me

so m uc h?

My

gui lt seemed

to

eat a t me like some kind o f cancer that star ted in my intes-

tines and spread i ts corruption through my entire body. I

tried to rationalize i t

away,

bu t i t

was

like

a

ghost that came

to

ha un t

me

at night and steal my sleep.

A s time progressed, I fou nd myself relieved w hen

I got

ra

ug

h r

Y e s , I

walked down the road some of you teen-agers

may be walking down r ight now. I tr ied

to

reject the train-

ing I had received.

I

turned my back on Go d, and

I

f ound

out how easy

it

is for Him

to

bring a person back.

H e

didnt le t me get

too f a r

before

I

got on my knees

an d called His name nd amazingly, in spite

of

my rebel-

l ion, He heard me.

Throughout th is ent i re t ime , I never once considered

what I was doing

to

my parents. My dad was so totally dedi-

cated

to

t h e W o r k

I

had grown

to

resent, that there was no

communication between us whatsoever . Thankfully though,

some thing happened

to

change all that.

W h e n I was a senior in high school, I had a good

t im e bu t i t seems the teachers found out about what a

good time I was having.

I

fou nd myself in the same old

mess. After telling t he principal my side of the story, he said:

We ll , To m , I wa n t you

to

tell your dad what you have

do ne, and we will ta lk

to

you later.

011 , buy Was

I cvcr in trouble My dad was go ing

10

kill me H e would beat me un til the Aesh fell

off

my bones

and

I

died r

so I

t hough t .

After

many

hours o f

torment

and mental anguish,

I

finally got the courage to te ll him what I had done, and

then I braced myself for the verbal onslaught I knew was

coming.

I was in for

a

surprise.

I watched dad, and I couldnt believe what was hap-

pening. I might as well have hit him in the face with

a

brick. I saw the hurt of many years come up from some-

where deep within him and spread itself over the lines chat I

had helped etch into his face.

He

grabbed a chair and sat

do w n, and wit h head in hands, my dad cried.

Suddenly

i t

dawned

on

m e h o w m u c h

I

had done to

hurt him over the years, and as that realization came, so

came my own tears.

An d there we were.

He

s tood up and hugged m e , and

we both jus t wept for a long t ime . And do you know, a t

that precise moment a bond was created between my dad

and me that

will

never be broken.

I

wish some

of

you could have what we have.

I

waited

until just before

I

was graduated from high school

to

ge t to

know

my

parents, and then

I

went

off to

college.

I

missed

them then, and I wished had gotte n

to

know them so

much better ,

so

much sooner .

Isnt i t t ime some of you young people got to know

your

parents? Dont wait as long as

I

did. Dont be like

I

was. When you know too much, you cant just re ject the

knowledge you have been given. Believe me, I tried

W h e n

I

realized that God was really working with me

and calling me, it was not hard for m e

to

heed that call. I

had been beaten dow n until I had no more streng th to resist.

I

had resisted

what,

deep down insidc,

I

had known

was

true

for years. I had seen

too

much

to

ever really turn my back on

the t ru th

for

very long.

I-rt

me

give yo i i

a few

illustrations.

My entire family was involved in

a

car accident on the

way to the Feast of Tabernacles in 1957. My mother sus-

tained internal injuries which were

of a

very serious nature.

She lost more blood than the average human being could

normally stand to

lose.

She didnt have a blood transfusion

he was anointed and relied on God for healing. Physi-

cally speaking, she should have died ut she didnt.

I believe God healed her.

Th at same year , ignorantly, we drove ou r twisted, bro-

ken, imperfectly repaired car home from Big Sandy, Texas,

wit hou t knowing the steer ing column was not properly con-

nected

to

the wheels. Over tor tuous, winding roads we

drove,

across

the burning dcsc rt and through rugged mo u~ i-

tains to San Diego. And there, as

we

reached home, we

found we could not even turn around on the street in front

of o u r h o u s e . The

insurance

man

was horrified when he

learned the condition our car was in.

O h ,

I

suppose you could explain that one away some-

how, but I think i t was a miracle .

As

a result of th e car accident

I

mentioned, my mother

was unable

to

have any more children. I was an only child,

and

I

was sure I always would be. And then came the time,

19

years later, that

I

held th e new life that was my first little

sister in my own trembling hands. She was half an hour old,

and tears streaked down my face as

I

looked at her sleeping

form and realized wh at a miracle she was N ow to to p it all,

I

have

another

sister

We l l , I guess I am an emotional person. But when I

th ink of

thc

t i -ci i i t i ihus way

G u d has

workrd in my life,

an d in th e lives of my parents,

I

cant help being very deeply

moved.

Not

only did

I

experience these miracles

with my

par-

ents, but I saw many more signs of Go d working in

M Y

life.

I

was

personally

healed many times.

I personally

had

many prayers answered, even when

I

was still finishing high

school.

Ipersonally

had

i t

proved

to

me time and time again

that this is

Gods

Church which I have been associated with

now for over fifteen years. I have seen literally dozens of

prophecies from the

World Tomorrow

broadcast come to pass.

I

would have

to

be a raving imbecile

to

so

blind

myself

to

the prophecies being fulf il led, th e handwriting on - the wall

for modern civilization.

( C o n t i m e d 012

page

13)


12/20

TO PARENTS

by

Alfred Carrozzo

NE

OF the

most imp ortan t God-given responsibi l it ies

we parents have is our children. Their safety and

fut ure de pend o n h ow we fulfill our responsibilities.

Part of

t h e great commission given to us in this end

time is the task of turning the hearts of the fathers

to

the

children and the hearts of the children to the fathers (Mal.

4:6). We should he the ones setting the example of proper

parent-chi ld relat ionships. How are we doing?

Wh a t d o o u r ch i l d r en

realb

think about our reli-

g ion? Wh at ef fect has the t ru th o f God had on the m?

Do

we just assume they are agreeing with us?

O n e of the greatest mistakes we parents can make

when we come to the knowledge of Gods t ruth is to

neglect, ignore, or otherwise disregard ou r children. If we, as

Gods people, neglect our children, tragedy will result.

I want to share with you some personal experiences.

Perhaps you can learn from the

mistakes

I have made. Maybe

you can avoid the sam e mistakes and spare yourself a m ou n-

tain of disappointment, grief and heartache.

There was a time when I was miserable. Nothing was

right in my life. Looking around, I found the same miser-

able condition everywhere. My neighbors on the left were

terribly unhappy. Those on the right were even worse off.

Th e people across th e street were in the same m iserable state.

I began to a sk : W h y ? W h y

so

much suffering in this

life?

I

had always been taught about God. I was told God

was kind, loving , perfect. I was told H e cared for us. But

now it seemed to me H e didnt care.

I viewed al l humanity and saw nothing but unhappi-

ness and suffering. I thoug ht i f God ex i s ted H e mus t be a

monster. I wondered why He would allow war, sickness,

depravity. If H e existed, I tho ug ht, H e must surely enjoy

seeing people suffer, because the world was filled with

misery, heartache and sorrow.

1 wanted answers. Surely there must be someone some-

where who could tell me what was happening. I turned to

religion first. Being reared as a Cathol ic, I w ent to the priest.

I asked the most basic questions about life: Who are we?

Wh y are we? Wh ere are we go in g? Wh at is li fe a ll about?

It was a shocking experience. He didnt really know

I

was told to have faith, but dont ask such questions.

He

said: Tru st G od and the church nly believe. Go d will

work it out. But I continued

to

be plagued by my thoughts.

I [houghr surcly

God

wouldrir I r avr humaniry hrlp-

lessly lost in this vortex of suffering, anguish and despair.

0

Having been taught

the

Bible

was

G o d s Wo rd ,

I

began

to

study it for some answers. As I continued

to

search the

Bible, I found that G od said He would bui ld H is Church.

He said

the

gates

of

hell would never prevail against

it.

Somewhere, I said to myself, that Church exists. This

was the beginning of a two-year search for Gods true

C h u r c h . I began going

to

one church, then another

searching, seeking, questioning. I listened to radio preachers,

evangelists and ministers of all types. I attended evangelistic

campaigns and studied the Bible diligently.

Soon I began to understand Gods Word. I could

see

how the basic teachings of Christianity were contrary

to

the Bible. I began

to

talk it up among my friends and

relatives, thinking someone would come up with the answers.

Finally, I heard the voice of Mr. Herbert W. Arm-

strong come thundering over the car radio one night . He

was completely captivating. I could hardly believe my ears

Everything he said

rang true.

It was totally compatible with

the Bible. H e dared to tell i t l ike it is. He even dared

to

cover Bible prophecy, and he didnt apologize.

This was the end of my search

It was

so

thrilling

to

learn the t ruth of God that

I

devoured every magazine, every booklet, the

Ambassador

College Correspondence Course everythin g My who le life

began to change. I wanted everyone to have what G od was

giving me.

I immediately jumped on the proverbial soapbox and

began to preach to others. It began with my wife, who

said she could see no difference in this religion from any

other. She had been th roug h the mil l with m e for over two

years, and by this time she had had as much as she felt she

could take. But I was persistent. I insisted this was

dzjerent.

I

qu it all other activities with o ther churches and concentrated

o n t h e t ru th of G o d .

Soon the rest

of

the family began to feel the impact of

my ministry. I was shout ing from the housetop. The

shouting began to alienate my mother, brother, five sisters

and the rest of the family. Little did I realize what a giant

mistake I w as making. T he scars of such mistakes remain to

this day.

I

had more zeal rhan wisdom. I was a gu ng -h o, ler-em-

have-it , no-holds-barred enthusiast. I just knew the whole

world would want

to

know of these precious t ruths God

was

rcvcaliiig LO iiie

tl i iwugh The WORLD

OMORRO

broadcast and

The

PLAIN RUTHagazine. An d o f course, I


13/20

September-October 1972 The

GOOD NEWS 11

took

it

for granted my wife and son would

automatically

go

along with it .

My s on, To m, was five years old at the time. I reasoned

that he was much

too

young to understand or b e affected in

any way. I was going

to

wait unt i l he grew up a bi t more,

and then I would begin

to

explain all about the way of life

we were now beginning. I was certain he would understand

and accept it all when he was old enough.

I zealously began

to

preach against Easter, Christmas,

and all the other pagan holidays. I preached about the

evils of pork, shrimp, rabbit and all unclean foods.

Soon we began

to

keep the Festivals of God. It was

thrilling. O u r lives were being turned right s ide up. Cod

was providing the answers to the most important quest ions

in life. Everything was beginning

to

fit into place. It was

fantastic

Little did

I

realize the profound effect this dramatic

and drastic chang e in ou r lives would have on ou r five-year-

old. I didnt even consider Toms feelings. I didnt

look

at i t

from his point of view.

Wh ethe r a chi ld is

five,

ten, or two e is profoundly

affected by his parents. To m was n o exception.

He

began to

be ashamed.

He

began to apologize

to

his friends.

He

was

confused, bewildered, dumbfounded.

Wh ere co ul d h e t u rn ? W h a t co u ld h e d o ? H i s w h o le

world w a s suddenly changed, and

he

didnt know why. Arid

no o ne explained, least of all his dad. I didnt think he could

understand, nor did I think i t mat tered. My at t i tu de contin-

ued th rough the most important , formative

years

of

Toms

l ife. It had a deep and lasting effect on him.

I have sat with my head in my hands and shed many

tears of sorrow over the many mistakes I have made as a

parent. Ive said: If I had i t

to

do over, i t would

be

very

different. I seemingly did everything wrong.

Let me tel l you about some of the most serious mis-

takes Ive made. Perhaps some of you are making the same

mistakes right no w. B ut you can

change

before it is too late.

I suppose the first mistake I made was taking T o m for

granted. I considered him as chattel. He would

automatically

go along with everything I did, I reasoned.

Surely,

I

thought , he wouldnt dare think for himself . Of course he

would understand dad was concernrd for his wclfarr. Hr

didnt have to be told everything dad was doing would be

for his good.

Undoubtedly

he would understand and appre-

ciate

i t ~.

so

I thought .

Even a t f ive years of age, T om had ideas of his ow n. H e

didnt really like sitting in Sabbath services for

two

hours o r

so. He rather enjoyed his Saturday afternoons in the park or

over at Grandmas. H e resented the sudden ch ange in his

l&. men -at

~6 ~p f l ? u ?

B u t

I

didnt consider his feelings. I just

TOOK

H I M FOR

GRANTED

m i T

yuu mdKe -in e sam e mistalce

wiih

your son or

daughter. It could be tragic

O n e of t he greatest mistakes

I

made with my son was

to simply neglect him. I got so involved in my own personal

Bible study, prayer and overcoming, there was no time left

for rhc fmiily.

I

vividly remember coming home from work and

n

heading directly for the back room where I would s tudy the

Ambassador College Correspondence Course until my wife would

call me

to

dinner. She would usually have to call several

times before I wou ld drag myself away. On ce at the table, I

gobbled my food down without a word.

As

soon as I had

finished, I headed for the back room again.

About eight-thirty, my wife would bring Tom in to

say G ood night before she put him

to

bed. I would take a

m i n u t e or so to say Good night , and that would be the

last time we would see each other until dinner the next

nigh t , when we would

go

throu gh t he same routine again.

Night after night , we would go through the same

ritual.

Never

did 1 consider that Tom

was butiger-itig for

my

attention.

I neglected him at the time he needed me most

the time when his whole litt le world was being turned

upside-down It

was

a drastic mistake

You may

be

making the same mistake now. Stop,

before it is

too

late

I suppose I could write a book about the many mis-

takes I have mad e wit h my T o m mistakes that caused

h i m to resent me and my religion.

Parents, LISTEN

Your children may resent the fact that they are your

children. They may wish their parents hadnt been called at

this time. They may wish they werent second-generation

Christians. Thcy may wish God would leave them alone.

Bu t H e w o n t

Your children are special. They are special because they

are your children. God has special concern for each of them.

He

doesnt take them for granted. God isnt going to

neglect

to

do His par t . How about you?

Don t you ma ke th e same mistakes

so

many have made

before you. As I look back over those early years of my

Christian life, I can plainly see the mistakes

I

made. If I

could relive those years, it would be very different.

I would make a lot of changes. First of all , I would

P R A Y for guidance. I would beseech God to show me how

to always make the right decisions regarding my son. I

would pray every morning for the wisdom

to

know what

was best for him each day. I would break my prayers up fine.

I would go into detail . 1 would ask for specific answers in

each situation.

I would never lean on my own understanding, but I

would always rely on G od to show me, teach me, guide me.

How

of ten do you seek Gods help with

your

children? He is

waiting eagerly to show you the way.

All

you need do is ask.

Parents, a large portion of your daily prayers should be

ab o u t your children.

Our children need love and affection. Given another

u~ym-romiy;

T m i V bc sure to show Tom proper

LOVE

AND AFFECTION. I would be very considerate of his feelings.

I wou ld be under standing. I would show sincere interest an d

concern.1would hu g and kiss him. I would break dow n any

mental barriers there might be between us. He would know

I really cared.

He

would be able to see that the t ruth of Go d

made me a bet ter father. 1 would

TAKE

T I M E with him

Every child needs to feel secure. When his whole life is

changed and chc whole world seemingly comes crashing

down on h im, he needs

to

know someone cares.

If his


14/20

12 The

GOOD NEWS September-October

1072

~ T L L R : ~ n~;

b c ~ r

I. -Jc.rLmJ~rivmrt ~ m rhu.

li-

li-

could be tragic.

As I reflect back o ver th e early years, I can clearly see

t h a t T o m was starving for that love and affection. He

needed

to

be assured someone cared.

Your children

a t

this very moment may be in that

same condition. You may be

so

involved with your personal

Christian growth that you dont have

time

to

provide the

a t tent ion

your

children

so

desperately need.

Y o u may find you and your children drifting apart

when you really should be drawing much closer together . I t

i r ~ - ~ k q m m i

b-rr,am

i r p r u h h ) I

wiil dapp en again. B ut

i-t- orPn NOT haqngrzl. m.

yw~

i ~ W Lm fhm. hP,

mistakes of others.

In those early years particularly, T o m and I sh ould

have spent a

lot

more t ime together . But I neglected him. If

I

had i t to do over i t would be d i ffe rent. W e would d o

things together . W e would w restle around in the yard

together .

I would be sure

to

set aside a Sunday regularly to spend

w it h T o m . W e w o u ld

go

places alone, as a family

or

with

his friends.

We

would hunt and f ish. We would play tennis

or

pool .

We

would swim together ,

go to

the beach together,

go boating together . W e would plan special trips, events,

out ings , f ar in advance . W e would ta lk about them and

look

forward

to

them.

I would be sure always to com mun icate with T om , if I

could do i t over .

I

dont mean just talk

to

him mean

rommz~nzrate

with h im. I t would be a two-way street. I

remember how he would go

to

others with his problems

rather than his own father.

I

remember how uneasy he was

when w e would ta lk, because we didnt commu nicate . It

was

no t a two-way conversation he just listened, I talked.

It would be different if I could do i t over . I would

L I S T E N to

his problems.

I

would show a genuine interest

in

ull

his activities.

I

would ask each day: How did i t

go

today? and be really interested in his answer.

I

would ask

abou t school. W e would talk about h is problems. I would

be sympathetic and listen intently when he would te ll me

abo ut his frustrations with other children. I would take t ime

to explain how he should handle each situation that might

come up, whether with the school bully, or the kids that

mig ht tease him abo ut the Feast of Tabernacles.

Whenever he had a problem, I would always be there

to listen. I would gain his confidence, and he would always

c om e

to

me when he needed help. It would be very different

f

I

could do

i t

over.

Ho w are you doing w i th your chi ldren r ight now ?

DO

Failing

to

communica te wi th the i r chi ldren is one of

the biggest mistakes parents in Gods Church make today.

Your children need to understand. They need to know why

your religion is different from every other religion.

I remember the f ir st t ime T o m and I had

a good

heart-

to-heart talk. I was astounded

to

learn what he was thinking.

I can see

vividly

the expression o n his face when I began to

tell him why

I

believed G ods truth .

I

could see the relief he

experienced when he learned how deeply

I

believed in the

ou O M hZ

U

N

ICAT

E

d > L i b AAL? L X - ~~YT

S~~~UZTXSWI?

A

W-XY

IITY- VLIY.

l ife . He thought I was just trying

to

be different, and he

wished he could just be like everyone else.

When he began

to

understand why,

i t

made

a

great

deal of difference. W e began

to

communicate , and

i t

made

all the difference in the world ut it came too late to save

years

of

anxiety and moments of agony.

You have the oppor tuni ty now to comm unicate before

it is too la te . You have the opportunity to

listen.

Dont le t

that opportunity slip by

O ne other th ing I would be sure

to

do is set a proper

exmiple . iTwuula sAow,by example, dy the way

i ived,

that

GMPLw q d ifk isdx hxsr.. Trim.ww drl. hs, ~ J P .n, QPP,hfiw

obedience to Go d is the only

way

to true happiness, peace of

mind and abundant l iving.

He

would be able to see the evils

of Easter and Christmas. H e wo uld rejoice in the Feast

of

Tabernacles and the Passover . There would be no doubt

which

is

the best way.

Everything

I

did or said would be an example of what

he should do and say.

He would be able

to

say with

conviction: Dad knows best. My example would be

before him wherever he would go , and he wou ld rem ember

it always.

Another thing we would do is have regular daily Bible

study together . I would teach Tom Gods truth in aposit iue

way.

I

would show how time

is

opening up

to

all Gods

people ot c losing in. I would show the fantastic future

for each

of

us personally in the wonderful World Tomor-

row. He

would begin to

see

the evils

in

todays world. He

would see that mans way really does lead

to

dea th . He

would begin

to

realize at an early age that the only hope for

h u m a n i t y i s

t h e

divine intervention

of

t he great G o d w h o m

we

serve.

H e would begin to look forward to t he K ingdom

of

God. He would begin to work and qualify for a posit ion

in tha t K ingdom .

I would gain his complete confidence in such

a

way

that he would believe me when I ta lked about God and His

way. I would never disappoint him. I would work with all

my m igh t to d o my part in rear ing him in the way that he

should go Gods way.

These are some of the things

I

would

do

if

I

had an

oppor tuni ty to do it all over

und

I

do

I have an

opportunity very few people on earth will ever have. My

wife shares that Opportunity. Three years ago our first

daughter, Paula Jean, was born.

I

realized we would have an

opportunity

to

do it over W e had the knowledge, experience

and background. And then ten months ago,

our

second daugh-

ter, Christina Ann, was born. Now we have

two

young daughters

What a fantastic blessing

We

have experienced the

wrong way. With Gods help, we will do i t right this t ime.

W e will try to avoid all the mistakes w e made before.

Our hope is tha t you can also learn from our experi-

ences. And please read Toms letter, even

if it

is for young

people.

Im

sure youll

get

his message.


15/20


16/20

Spiritual Heroin

There i s a drug worse than

heroin - drug

wh ich

i s

more addic t ive and harder

to with draw from once you

u r e h o o k e d . I t h a s

caused

a

number to MISS

OUT on salvati on Read

what you

can

d o to avoid

getting hooked.

by

William F Dankenbring

H E

T Y P I C A L

h e r o i n a d d i c t

becomes a human derel ict . He

lives from fix to fix. His

whole life becomes totally preoccupied

with heroin. He rapidly finds he

is

an

abject slave to the drug. I t becomes his

g o d .

Worthwhile character t rai ts gradu-

ally disappear. In time, boils and

abscesses start to break o ut o n the skin.

Imaginary fears blight the mind; some-

times insanity occurs, or death from an

overdose

Once a person becomes addicted

to

heroin, there is very little chance that

he will ever permanently escape.

T

The Living Death

The heroin addict literally goes

through a hel l o n ear th to free him-

self from the clutches of th i s d rug .

T he experience of withdrawal is

excruciating torment, a nerve-shatter-

i n g o r d e a l . S e v e r e s h o o t i n g p a i n s

cons t r i c t the abdomen, knot t ing i t up

like a sheet of corrugated tin. Explosive

waves of contract ion rake the s tomach

walls. Addicts experience violent vom-

i t ing, often s tained with blood.

Said ex-boxer Barney Ross, describ-

ing his f ight with addict ion: Well ,

you start to scream. Th e nightmares, all

kinds of horrors, you are always think-

ing that there are monkeys jumping u p

and dow n your back . You tu rn around

and see there is nobody there, and find

yourself screaming and find yourself on

the floor many times from rolling off

the bed, and I

got

to a s tate one t ime

where I was ready

to

cut my throat

with a razor blade.

Yet after enduring this sheer torture,

ab o u t 95 percent of addicts turn right

back

to

h e ro i n w h en t h e ch an ce

presents itself. Some addicts have gone

through addict ion and withdrawal as

many

as

fifty times Thats just how

tenacious

the grip of heroin is

Howe ver, bad as heroin addiction is,

there is a spiritual addiction which is

far worse. There is a spiritual narcotic

which can begin to dominate your life

even more than heroin addiction.

Brethren, there is a

spiritual addiction

which also enslaves, captivates, leads

to

total character degeneration. The spiri-

tual addicts love for G od vanishes. H is

love for Gods people turns inside out,

his love for Gods Law metamorphoses

into hate and hostility

He becomes one of the walk ing

dead, spiritually.

The recovery rate of those who

become enslaved by spiritual heroin

is likewise virtually zero. On ce h ooke d,

a persons chances are slim indeed

W h a t is this spiritual narcotic -this

mind- twis t ing sp i r itua l d rug? How do

people become addicted

to

i t ? H o w can

YOU

AVOID i t ?

A

Poisonous

Root

H e r o i n c o m e s f r o m t h e o p i u m

poppy. Th e opium is refined into pure

heroin, usually smuggled from one

country into another, and finally

reaches the heroin addicts through

pushers.

Spiritual heroin also has its source of

supply, and its legion of pushers.

Satan the devil is the source and

grower of this spiri tual poison. He is

also the one who refines it , boils it

down into potent doses, and then

injects i t into your mind. He doesnt

take a hypodermic needle to inject it

into a vein - e puts i t r ight w here i t

wil l do the most damage nto your

mind.

Satan is also a master pusher. His

tactics are subtle eductive ver

so

sly. If you allow him to begin to

inject just a little spiritual heroin into

your system, at first it will

seem

to

givr

you a sense of pleasure thrill

but soon you wil l be

booked,

if you

continue receiving his doses. Your sys-

tem wil l demand more and more. You

will crave it , even when there is no

more pleasure or thrill involved.

And once you are booked, your chan-

ces of escape are almost nil. Seeds of

suspicion and doubt wil l sprout and

bear fru it. Disco ntent, envy, or jealousy

wil l rake your mind. Your mind wil l

become warped, twisted.

Bu t just what is this s inis ter drug ? It

is a

root

o f

bitterness.

A Grim Warning

T h e Apostle Paul was inspired to

write: Follow peace with all men, and

holiness, without which no man shall

see the Lord: Looking diligently lest

any man fai l of the grace of God; lest

any ROOT OF

B I TTER NES S

springing up

trouble you, and thereby M A N Y be

defiled (Heb. 12:14-15 .

T h e original Greek word here trans-

lated bitterness is

pikrid

and means

acridity, especially poison. It has

to

do w ith sharpness, pungency, acidity. I t

might be compared

to

the taste of a

bitter lemon or other harsh, acidic,

astringent flavor.

The Apost le Peter said

of

Simon

Magus, the arch-apostate and deceiver

of his age, For I perceive that t hou art

in the

gall

of

bitterness,

and in the bond

of iniquity (Acts

8:23) .

That man, as

far as history relates, never repented.

Despite this admonition straight from

Gods apostle, he apparently remained

in a state

of

bitterness toward the

truth. H e perverted the t rue gospel of

Christ and led many people into decep-

tion

Paul knew the danger of bitterness.

H e instructed the Ephesians, An d

grieve not the Holy Spiri t

of

G o d ,

whereby ye are sealed unto the day of

redemption. Let A L L BITTERNESS,nd

wrath, and anger, and clamour, and

evil speaking, be put away from you,


17/20

September-October

1972

The

GOOD

NEWS

1 5

with all malice: And be ye kind one to

another, tenderhearted, forgiving one

another, even

as

God for Christs sake

hath forgiven you (Eph.

4:30-32).

Bitterness is contrary to the frui ts of

Gods Holy Spirit . It is a fruit of the

carnal mind nd of Satan th e devil.

He i s , wi thout

a

doubt , the bi t terest

being in existence today - bitter

against God and al l He stands for.

Notice the admonit ion of James:

W h o is a wise man and endued with

knowledge among you? Let him shew

out of a good conversat ion his works

with meekness of wisdom. But if ye

have bitter envying utid

strqe

in your

hearts, glory not, and lie not against

the t ruth. This [supposed} wisdom

descendeth not from above, but is

earthly, sensual,

DE VIL ISH. For where

envying and strife is, there is

C O N F U -

SION an d

every

evil work (James 3:13-

16).

Satan is the author of bitterness.

He

was the first to become embittered

against the way of God - he first to

become dissatisfied and to allow a

root of bitterness to spring up in his

m i n d .

W he n any man becomes bi tter , he is

allowing the worst pusher of all t ime

- Satan the devil -

to

peddle his

wares

to

him.

He

i s go i ng the way of

the devil. He may think he has every

excuse, every reason

to

become angry,

resentful,

bitter -

but he is al lowing

himself to be deceived, twisted in his

thinking, warped in his reasoning and

filled with addictive poison

How

Some Become Bitter

How does one become addic ted to

bitterness? Essentially the same way

hundreds of thousands in the United

States and mil l ions around the world

have become addicted

to

heroin. Evi-

dence shows that thr vast majority uf

heroin addicts actually

began

by using

other d rugs - weaker drugs, such as

marijuana or

LSD.

O n e d ru g l cd to

ano the r no t necessarily a scientific

cause and effect relationship, but an

atmosphere of social rebellion and

wrong associations certainly encour-

aged it .

T h e

Los

Angeles Police Department

investigated youths who had been

arrested in

1960

for illegal possession of

relatively mild marzjuana. Wi t h i n five

years, 16 per cen t had been rearrested

for possession or use of

heroin

A woman who was a heroin addict

for 25 long, miserable years firmly said:

I dont think marijuana leads to

heroin and cocaine, I know i t . I know a

thousand junkies, and they all started

with pot, l ike me.

So

i t is also w ith spiritual heroin -

bitterness. Generally, a person starts

out

with harboring just a

little

resent-

Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 06) Sep-Oct

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Transcript of Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 06) Sep-Oct