THE CALL FOR THE SOLEMN ASSEMBLY

Chapter Seven

THE CALL FOR THE SOLEMN ASSEMBLY

Joel 1:13-15: “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.”

Joel 2:15-17: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?”

The call for the Solemn Assembly came forth on April 25, 1993, exactly three months before the grand event. The actual call for the Solemn Assembly went forth approximately 2700 years before through the prophet Joel, as he prophesied of last-days events. God had impressed upon the Church as early as 1984 the necessity of the Solemn Assembly. In the conclusion of the Questions and Subjects Committee report to the 79th Assembly (1984), they brought the following subject before the Assembly which is quoted here in excerpts. “Although we feel that all the matters to which we have given attention during the course of our meetings this year are important, one matter, in the opinion of this Committee, eclipses them all. It is a subject which the Holy Ghost brought very forcefully upon us in our first meeting of this Assembly year held in January. It’s need finds expression in the second chapter of Joel: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach” (vv. 15-17). This Committee knows of no greater need to bring [to] this Assembly’s attention than the need for repentance … With the moderator’s permission, we suggest that this portion of our report be accepted, not by a motion and second to the motion, but by those present in this Assembly falling down before the Lord…”

Although, everyone went to prayer following this, the continuing worldly lifestyles proved that a genuine repentance had not taken place. Five years later (1989), a Prayer Conference was conducted immediately following the Bible Training Institute closing exercises. No special significance or outcome was ever noticed following this prayer conference.

God spoke to the Church many times for us to humble ourselves. After repeated messages, these commands from a Holy God generally went unheeded. As God had spoken previously that “It is My time,” surely the time to fulfill prophecy had now arrived. The stage had been set for a glorious deliverance. Only those who were brave enough to engage their hearts to obey and seek God in prayer and fasting would experience this deliverance from the yoke of man-made doctrine and government.

The call for the Solemn Assembly, which was issued by God through the Holy Ghost message on April 25, 1993, was a climax to the seven-year period of seeking God by His called-out-ones. God had prepared and nurtured a people through which He would issue this Divine prophetic call. This call came through a message in tongues in the third message of a series of messages which began on February 3, 1993. The only remaining job for this body of people to do was to run with the message as the Holy Ghost had instructed us to do.

The Holy Ghost message is quite lengthy so we will not quote it word for word here. It is included at the end of this book in its entirety. The first and second messages are short in comparison. Their significance bears recognition here. The first message came on February 3, 1993. It is as follows. “Take heed, take heed, I will speak to you three times. This is the first. Take heed and don’t let it slip by. Jerusalem, the capital city, lies in shambles. Infiltrators have come in. There are breaches in the wall. The young women have been ravished. The young men have been murdered. In the king’s palace there is great fear. They in the king’s palace are wringing their hands and don’t know what to do. They don’t know what is taking place. Battering rams have made breaches in the wall. Take heed. Take heed. Take heed. My anger is kindled. The Lord is angered. It is my time. Children, rise up in the power of the living God. Let my glory move and let my power move. There is a small partition in the wall. It is you. Break forth into battle, not fleshly battle but spiritual battle. Tarry not any more. The time is come. There are two other messages to come. Be receptive to my Spirit. My little flock, My little flock, My little flock. Gather around the banner. My truth will not fail. You are still my Bride.”

The second message came on April 11, 1993. It was a little more detailed but not to the point that we would know how to respond without the detailed information and instructions contained in the third message. We give the second message here in its completeness. “Take heed. Take heed. I, the Lord, speak Lo, Lo, it’s the second message. Lo, I say the third will come shortly, but a few days. Take heed. Take heed. Take heed. It will not tarry. It will not tarry. Yea, I hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he came out of the city and came after my people. But oh, I covered him in the flood. Yea, I speak a word of wisdom to you. Great hardness of hearts shall come. They will not be able to stop what they are going to do. They cannot help themselves. They had planned to back off, but yea I say, I’ve hardened their hearts. I hardened their hearts. I must do a quick work. Time is very short. Take heed. Take heed. Take heed. Yea, I speak to you, My Bride, and tell you this now. I open your eyes that you may see. Lo, if you saw, if you could only see what I can see, lo, there would be great weeping. There would be great wailing. Yea, take heed to the message. For indeed, indeed my people, I am moving in the midst of the Church. Yea I am disappointed. I am very disappointed. Lo, I tell you, my people are sitting in places of death, and they refuse to come out. My Spirit has called, but they refuse to come out. They complain, they argue, they pray and weep, but they have refused, they have refused to heed my calling. Lo, Lo, Lo, I tell you there’s a great shaking coming, a great shaking is coming. Now I speak this word to you that you may know, and that it may be settled in your heart. Yea there is a great disruption. I say there is two parts that is divided, there is a great sparring taking place. Yea, I speak to you, the fight has just begun. There is a tremendous war fixing to take place, and my friends, you are caught in the middle. But I say, lift up your voices and make the cry. Say, ‘It is time to come together in the name of the Lord God.’ Yea, the third shall come quickly, it is but a few days off. Take heed. Take heed. For I will speak that one last time and I will instruct you. There is an anointing coming down. Yea, there is some right in the midst of thee that I will use greatly, saith the Lord. Speak the words, speak the words, and tell my people to come out, to come out and come together.”

The first two messages were as an introduction to the third. They contain somewhat in summary form what the third message expounded on. Three basic components are contained in them, primarily a warning of the wrath of God toward His erring people, a reminder that God had called us to a special work, and a directive to carry out this task. In summary, heretical leaders had infiltrated the Church. Their leadership had drawn the people away from the purpose of God. God had warned them to repent but they refused. He raised up a remnant to steer His people back to the straight and narrow way. The call was coming forth for them to meet together in one accord to seek Him and return fully back to Him. A sentence of Divine judgment rested upon all who refused to obey.

The second message spoke about “places of death” which the people were sitting in. This refers to the dry formal atmosphere which permeated most of our churches at that time. Also, the Spirit said there was a great disruption and two parts were divided. This bears record with Zechariah 13:8; “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.” No doubt this could be what God was referring to when He said, “… if you could only see what I can see, lo, there would be great weeping. There would be great wailing.” The Solemn Assembly convened in the name of the Church of the Living God, just as the Spirit had directed. The time for the Solemn Assembly had been directed by the Holy Ghost message for three days in the seventh month. The availability of the auditorium in the seventh month coincided precisely with the 70th anniversary of the date in 1923 to the very day when the Church of God threw off the yoke of man-made rules and went free after the first disruption.

The reason for the Solemn Assembly was also given by the Holy Ghost. He said: “Why the solemn assembly? Oh, Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel. Look to My Word. Yea, the time is come for My people to know who is the Lord, who is the Word, what is the Truth.” Just as the prophet Elijah had faced a show-down with apostate Israel to show to them who the Living God really was, a show-down was occurring in the Church of God. God was once again taking the Church out of the hands of the flesh and returning it back under His control. This is what He said He would do in the Assembly of 1986. The fulfillment of His Word was becoming a reality.

The Holy Ghost also warned us of the reaction of the apostate leadership and informed us on how to respond. Quoting from the Holy Ghost message, God said: “…this will cause a great uproar in the Church. Lo, I speak to you now and tell you they will come against you with great fury. Oh I told you I have hardened their hearts… Yea, tell the elders to leave this alone. … Oh, tell the elders if they touch this, death shall surely come. Tell the elders they better not touch.” The message continued with more instructions: “They will fly forth out of the city. But, lo, I say, they cannot harm thee… Tell them this is what the Lord hath said… Use the advice that Gamaliel told… ‘If it be of Me there is no way to stop it, but if it be of man it will fail.’”

The apostate leadership had had their chance and had failed God. He reminds us of this in these words: “…Can one who is blind lead one who has sight?…My leaders know not the moving of My Spirit…Yea, My children, as my servant Moses came down from the mountain side he found Israel had gone a whoring. Yea, I say I have come down from the mountain.…Lo, I have found My people have gone a whoring. Yea, they have made themselves golden images, yea, yea, thus saith the Lord, I am against them…You bow down to the gods of this world… your sin is before Me. You are naked before me… as My servant Moses cried that day, he said, ‘who is on the Lords side?’…Yea, I call now and say, Who is on the Lord’s side?…Woe unto the pastors who have scattered My flock. Yea I will spew you out! Fear, fear the living God!” He went on to remind us that they had disobeyed Him in other things as well. The message continued with: “ … tell them, have I not called for the annual assembly? Did I not call for My people to come up once a year to meet with Me? They have broken My commandments.” The schedule for the Annual Assemblies was changed in 1991 to a bi-annual schedule. This change was to take affect after the next Assembly (1992) with the year 1993 being the first year to skip. God was reminding us that His original plan was for an annual gathering. By changing the Assembly schedule to bi-annual, they had broken His commandment. God is sovereign. He will have His way in the affairs of men. He not only showed the apostate leadership that He WOULD have an Assembly in the year they decided to skip, but He graciously allowed two Assemblies to take place in that year, the Solemn Assembly and also the 88th General Assembly. The erring leaders’ reason for changing the Assembly to a bi-annual schedule was allegedly for financial purposes. But to the more discerning, the real reason seemed to be to bring the Church more in line with the denominational structure for future ecumenical unity. They had already rejected exclusivity, so apparently this was the obvious avenue which they would take.

These were trying times for those who were inclined to do right and stick to the revelation of the Church of God. With this revelation being tarnished by contrary winds of doctrine, some were having a hard time staying loyal to the central government of the Church. Without divine direction, they were in a strait to know what to do. In trying to stay faithful to a doctrine which was going through a metamorphosis, without supporting the unbiblical changes, some congregations pulled out of the organization and went independent while waiting on God for a divine intervention. The Holy Ghost spoke to them also: “Lo, some have presumed.…Lo, I speak, some, some have broken free. They have presumed that they were the only ones that were left, but yea, I told my servant Elijah there were seven thousand that had not bowed. Yea, I say to you, My people, there is many, a small remnant that has not bowed. Yea, I speak to those who have left, tell them to come back. Tell them to meet, tell them to meet with Me in the solemn assembly.”

The Solemn Assembly was the means God would use to set His people free. The prophet Zephaniah spoke about the Solemn Assembly also in Zephaniah 3:18, 19: “I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.” The prophet said that God would undo all that afflicted us there at that meeting. A Holy Ghost message through an evangelist in the state of Arkansas on February 23, 1993 said in part:“…this is the year of Jubilee for My Church. Fear not…for even now I am at work to make amends for the damage the enemy has caused you…for I will have a holy people who will lift up My standard of holiness and defend it for My name’s sake…that which I have spoken shall surely come to pass within the year.” Many people were truly sorrowful. They were hurting for the things which had befallen the Church of God. Their hurt would be turned into joy, for God had promised a great healing there. His Word through the prophets had also promised a healing for the Church. As this call for the Solemn Assembly went out to the people, their faith and courage began to soar. Many were ready and anxiously waiting for this healing and restoration to take place among us. Psalms 30:5 states “… weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” The long dark night was almost over for those who had endured the sorrow and burden of standing in the “old paths.” Morning was dawning, and with it the joy of the Lord would be restored.