THE CHURCH BEGINS TO GROW

Chapter Nine

THE CHURCH BEGINS TO GROW

The effects of the Solemn Assembly were both immediate and long term. After the Saturday evening session, an auditorium concession stand employee remarked to an Assembly delegate, “God has done something special for you people tonight.” This observation from a non-member shows that the works of Almighty God do not go unnoticed. A glorious work of God such as this will have its effect on the world, beginning at the source of the event. A similar reaction occurred when the Holy Ghost was poured out on the Church at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. It was noised abroad from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth. The effects of the Solemn Assembly would be felt world-wide also, beginning at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

A few weeks after the Solemn Assembly, a sister from England was moved on to come to America. She had no finances and wondered why God inspired her to come here when no special event was taking place. She prayed for God to supply the need if indeed it was truly Him who wanted her to come. God did supply the need and she came in obedience to God. She providentially met with the District Overseer of East Tennessee and told him about the events that brought her here. This meeting led to her covenant renewal and when she returned to England, The Church of God message went with her.

About two years later, a letter was received at the Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee asking for information about the group which held the Solemn Assembly there. The letter was from Nigeria, West Africa. The information in the letter had the dates, place and name of the moderator stated correctly. The letter was addressed to: “Memorial Auditorium, Shatternooga, Tennessee.” Yes, that is correct, “Chattanooga” was misspelled. The letter contained no street address nor postal zip code, but it got through and was handed to officials at General Headquarters. As a result of this inquiry, the Church was established on the continent of Africa. Since then we have seen the Church spread over a vast region of this continent, reaching at least a half-dozen or more nations.

One day in January, 1999, a man showed up at the General Office and announced that he was from India. He said that he had heard of the reorganization of the Church and that a few people had gotten together and worked to save up finances to send him to us to find out more information. He joined the Church in the General Overseer’s office and went back to India to establish The Church of God there. Other fields opened to us in similar fashion. God has indeed worked after the council of His own will and has propelled this work forward in ways beyond our natural understanding.

The news media recognized the events which had happened during this disruptive time with a short news story which was slanted in favor of the other organization. The overall public reaction and acceptance of us as the re-organization of The Church of God was fair and appreciative, however.

The Holy Ghost had told us that some of those associated with the Concerned were with us but not of us. Some of these came with The Church of God in a covenant renewal. Their presence among us has helped fulfill the Scripture in Zechariah 13:8 and 9: “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. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” The two parts which were cut off were the results of the disruptions of 1923 and 1993. We are the third part which is going through the fire. The purpose of this fire is to purify the Church and cause it to reach the state of perfection which must be obtained before the Rapture. In spite of the fact that God had done a glorious work at the Solemn Assembly when the Remnant had come to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among us to accuse us and destroy our influence just as he did as recorded in the book of Job. Some of these began to drift away soon after the Solemn Assembly while others stayed to do their deadly work of deceiving and troubling The Church of God. These things hurt us deeply, but they were in fulfillment of the Holy Ghost message to the Church.

There are some interesting parallels between both disruptions of the Church, the one in 1923 and the one in 1993. We will note some of these here. Both disruptions had experienced financial difficulties and doctrinal disunity. The act of restoration took place on July 24, exactly 70 years apart. The actual business of reorganizing in both instances took place in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A General Assembly followed each occasion in the month of November. There were needful business considerations concerning the name of the Church on both occasions. In 1923 the Church was officially known as the General Assembly of the Churches of God. This error had to be corrected to give the Church back its Biblical name which is “The Church of God.” In the Solemn Assembly the Church also took back its rightful Biblical name of “The Church of God.” The courts of the land had forced us to use the name “Church of God of Prophecy,” in 1952 as a result of the numerous lawsuits brought against us by the opposing organization. It is interesting to note that the attorney representing the Church in 1952 made a statement after the Judge had handed down his decision on the name change, that a day would come when the words “of Prophecy” would fall by the wayside. Had we waited for this to come through General Assembly action, no doubt we would never have gotten the courage or inspiration to make it so; but God set the stage and gave us the courage to make the change during the glorious Solemn Assembly. There were legal entanglements between both organizations after the disruption of 1923 and the same is true of us today. By necessity, the Church’s official publication had to begin anew. In 1923 the Church paper was called “The White Wing Messenger.” In 1993 the name of the newsletter which the “Concerned” had published, “The Evening Light,” became the official Church publication. After the first disruption, some brethren went to visit a local church in the State of Illinois. During the meeting, the door was opened and a broom was used to symbolically sweep the trash out of the Church. The “trash,” of course, was the true element which stood with A. J. Tomlinson. After the last disruption, a local church in the State of New Mexico covered all their windows with black coverings and had a symbolic candlelight funeral service for those “dead saints” which had renewed their covenants with The Church of God.

During the ten years following the Solemn Assembly, The Church of God has grown from 23 churches to around 575. There were 138 ministers renewing their covenants at the Solemn Assembly. We now have over 950 ministers. We have grown from approximately 700 members to nearly 13,000. The numbers change almost daily. We were organized in only one country at the time of the initial reorganization which was the United States. We are now organized in over 40 countries. God has blessed us with a modern General Headquarters building which is debt free and a print shop which is adequate for our present printing needs. We are in the process of constructing an addition to our present office building which will more than double the present size. To this date, the building addition is also debt free. We have set up satellite printing facilities for the Spanish work in Honduras and Argentina. We also have a small printing operation established in the Philippines. Literature is being printed at commercial print shops in Haiti, India and Indonesia. Church literature has been translated and printed in several additional languages. The Evening Light is being printed in several languages and countries. The controversy over the name of the Church seems to be dying as we hold to our resolve to keep it “The Church of God.” God gave us a new design for our Church flag in the Assembly in 2001. That controversy seems to be dead also. God has truly blessed His Church beyond measure in this short time period. We all feel that we are in the last “home stretch” just before the Rapture. The Spirit of worship and praise has settled down upon us, as we are realizing the times in which we live. God is truly doing His work of purging His Church and getting it ready for the inflow and, subsequently, for the much anticipated Rapture. Only God knows just when this momentous event will take place. From all indications of the signs and events around us, both in the Church and also in the world, that glorious time of perfection and being raptured away cannot be far off. Will the Church hold to the standard this time and be ready for this great event? IN FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S WORD AND BY HIS GRACE WE WILL!

“The Spirit and bride say, come…Even so, come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:17).