Petra: Round 2-Another Failure

Two years ago, Samuel Kitchen headed off to Jerusalem to usher in the end times and gather the faithful Worldwide Church of God members. Devious crooks conned him with hotel reservations, and he had to leave Jerusalem and head off to Petra, where God had placed his name for the Feast. That turned into a major catastrophe that drove a wedge between his brothers and broke other relationships.

Never one to learn a lesson from the debacle, he is back this year in Petra for round 2 after Turkey ruined his orginal plans. This will once again will most assuredly be another bust.

Good morning brethren, 

 

I’ve been awake for almost 4 hours now already. I was awakened this morning in Petra, Jordan by a voice saying “What’s this, Samuel?” And since then i haven’t been able to go back asleep. 

 

And now, almost 7am in the morning, I am in my room asking God and contemplating why I have returned to Petra. 

 

Earlier in the year, I was actually looking into Egypt, to visit Mt. Sinai and to contemplate God’s great work there, during the Feast of Tabernacles.  

 

I was spurred to look for friendly countries, after listening to Gerald Waterhouse give a sermon, and after some prayer and research I settled on Egypt. I even purchased a plane tickets for my younger brother.  

 

I had booked our tickets through Turkish Airlines, and I was kind of nervous doing that considering the history of the Turkish people and the prophecies of the Bible.(Particularly Obadiah). 

 

Our 15hr layover was going to be in Istanbul, Turkey.  

 

Well a few weeks ago, Turkish airlines cancelled our connecting flight from Istanbul to Egypt, causing the cancellation of the entire trip.  

 

I began looking at inland United States, along the Florida, and Alabama coastlines, and wasn’t having any luck finding a suitable place to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 

 

I even looked along the eastern coastline, and even looked at European, and Asian countries, asking God to open a door to where He placed His name. 

 

Then I remembered, God did place His name here in Petra! In 2022, when God’s people were planning on assembling in Jerusalem, we were guided by Jesus Christ to Petra, Jordan. 

 

Last year I kept the Feast in Philadelphia, PA, and the worldwidechurchofgod.org website was started. Its function was to facilitate the ASSEMBLING of the membership of the Worldwide Church of God, and to show we are not completely destroyed as some assume. 

 

I find it interesting that it was in PHILADELPHIA that this world started forward in such a manner.  

 

But now this year, I was anticipating distress here in the United States, especially during the election year. I started to look at friendly countries that supported Mr Armstrong. I looked in Africa, and finally landed on Egypt.  

 

I realized how reasonable the prices were to travel there, and I sought to visit Mt. Sinai, and stay there for the duration of this years Feast of Tabernacles.  

 

Suddenly $2,000+ landed in my hands from new customers and I had the ability to purchase tickets and reserve hotel stays. So I did. I knew that it was safe in God’s hands. He provided the money, and even though I was struggling financially, I decided to put God first, and make sure His Feast and Holy Days were taken care of first! 

 

As we approached Feast time, with the upset and troubles in the Middle East, airports began to close. Our way into Egypt, was through Turkey. 

 

And when they cancelled, the book of Obadiah came instantly to my mind.

“For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

“In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.(against God’s Church)

“But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

“Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; (into the congregations of the Worldwide Church of God)yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity”(verses 10-13)

We begin to see who took the “substance” of the WCG organization, should NOT have done such.

“Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.”(verse 14)

Now, those of the Worldwide Church of God was persecuted!(Rev. 12:13) We were targeted with oppression, in order to NOT assemble together.

What happened was the membership of the Worldwide Church of God was forced to assemble in other churches and other groups! (And they used the name of “the Church of God” to cast the net over them! The wolves did the pushing, to force the flock into a scattered condition, where a “network” worked on the people! No longer were they together as they were assembled under Christ’s apostle Herbert W Armstrong!

It’s been a real battle to reassemble as the Worldwide Church of God, doing it God’s way! My family did so under great scrutiny, and peril.

So much so, new church groups and websites were started to copy us and our work, and their goal was to eliminate the warning message to our Laodicean brethren!!

My family was hit tremendously, and some have died in this battle to assemble as God has called us to assemble!

So in 2022, I sought to declare the continued existence of the Worldwide Church of God here in Jerusalem. As soon as that was declared, and as soon as we met up with fellow brethren, we were moved to Petra, Jordan. There we kept the Holy Days and the Festivals of God! It was made crystal clear where God placed His name!

So as I looked at friendly countries, and as plans began to fall through, I was looking at Egypt. I found a scripture in 1 Kings 19, where Elijah fearing for his life, thinking he was the ONLY SERVANT OF GOD LEFT ON EARTH, fled Jezebel’s slaughter and ran into the wilderness a day, and was prepared to die. He asked God to kill him. But God gave him food and strength and he continued his journey to Mt. Sinai!

There wind, earthquakes and fires were persecuting Elijah! God’s Word says “The Lord wasn’t in them”. Now who was behind those things and using those things, if God wasn’t? Satan the Devil wanted Elijah dead.

Now here was Elijah at Mt. Sinai, now located in modern Egypt, facing great persecution. Then he heard the voice of God, and there you see the man of Gid responding!

The Lord asked him “Why are you here, Elijah?” Elijah responded saying “And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”(verse 14)

God asked him again, “Why are you here, Elijah?” And again Elijah repeated what he said before!

Elijah came to Mt.Sinai, his entire life focused on the work of God. He was fleeing an unsafe environment, trying to stay alive to finish what was given him to do. He had thoughts he was done, so he asked for death.

But God was yet to FINISH the Elijah work, and God orders Elijah to return.

So after looking at Egypt, I found this scripture, and thought I was to go to Egypt. But then Modern day Edom, and Esau, which is Turkey, stopped my ability to go there. So I began to think on why I looked at Mt. Sinai, and God’s question to Elijah kept coming back to me. Why there? God says go back to “this location” to finish the job. Back to where God placed HIS NAME, and Elijah went back with the name of God stamped on him!

And so coming back to Petra, is very interesting. There aren’t any brethren here with me. I’m alone. But many brethren are with me in spirit, and have joined with me via The Worldwide Church of God website, where they are!

This past year, Satan has inspired some to rise up to claim the name of God’s true Church, and to have approval from Caesar against us. To keep us from assembling without their involvement.

So as far as I know, Petra, Jordan is the Headquarters of God’s True Church right now! He has placed His name here, and no other impostor can erase this fact!

All the prophecies of this Church shows this Church going into “her place”(Revelation 12:14). She isn’t recognized as having ANY OTHER PLACE TO GO!

So while others are assembling in Tennessee and other places which are convenient for them, God’s Church is and will end up assembling where God says is HER PLACE!

That is not the word of Samuel Kitchen! God’s Word says this Chirch will go to a place of safety!

Now returning back to Obadiah 1, and the persecution this Chirch is receiving, let’s read verse 16.

“For as ye”…the spiritual edomites who have attempted to rob and destroy the Worldwide Church of God…”have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.”

Yes they have been drinking and gobbling up everything this Church (which only has God’s government restored)has put out, so much they even grasp to lay claim of possession on what is NOT theirs!

What is coming, against them, is from Jesus Christ!

And while Christ moved me around the blocking of my path to the Feast, and led me safely back to where his name was placed, perhaps my job is to once again announce where God’s Church, the Worldwide Church of God is headquarter and based out of!!!

Last year, even some from other groups, had to flee Jerusalem to Jordan to escape war. I think that highlights this even more!

The Worldwide Church of God is alive! And I’m here in Petra, Jordan hosting online for brethren all around the world.

Listen to God’s apostle, and the ministry who have prepared messages for our time. Let the true witness, which is Jesus Christ, remind you of what He has said. Have a wonderful feast everyone! I am praying for your safety and blessing.

In Christ’s name,

Samuel W Kitchen

Will You Be Ruling Over Ten Cities?

Parable of the 10 Minas

Will You Be Ruling Over Ten Cities?

In my last post, I discussed how Herbert Armstrong confused human notions about governance and the exercise of authority with God's conception of those things. Indeed, we demonstrated that his failure to comprehend the profound differences between the two models led him to twist the meaning of the Kingdom of God! To be more precise, we made it very clear that Armstrong's emphasis on GOVERNMENT and RULERSHIP was misguided, and it twisted his understanding of what the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was all about. In this post, we will demonstrate that it also twisted his understanding of one of Christ's parables about the Kingdom (It actually twisted Armstrong's understanding of many parables, but we don't have the space or time to go through all of them here).

In the nineteenth chapter of Luke, we read:

11 The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12 He said, “A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ 14 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’
15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. 16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’
17 ‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 ‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’
20 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. 21 I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’
22 ‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, 23 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
24 “Then, turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’
25 ‘But, master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’
26 ‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 27 And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.’”

In his explanation of this parable, Herbert Armstrong wrote: "Now notice in verse 17, the one who had gained ten pounds is given authority to RULE CITIES - 'have thou authority over ten cities'! To the one who had gained five pounds, he said, 'Be thou also over five cities.' This is speaking of the SECOND COMING OF CHRIST and of His delegating authority to rule to saints converted during this Christian era, between Christ's first and second appearings (sic) on earth. This parable, then, was spoken to make clear to us that the Kingdom of God is a literal GOVERNMENT, to be set up AT CHRIST'S SECOND COMING - and not before!" - Just What Do You Mean - Kingdom of God? Armstrong also observed on another occasion "Some resurrected saints will rule over ten cities, some over five (Luke 19: 17 -19)." - Tomorrow - What It Will Be Like

Unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong always had trouble interpreting symbolism because of his obsession with literalism. He seems to have forgotten what a parable is! In their article, What is a Parable? Christianity.com provides this definition of a parable: "A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels. The word "parable" comes from the Greek word 'parabolē,' which means 'comparison' or 'illustration.' Parables typically employ everyday situations and characters, making them accessible to a wide audience." In the writings of Herbert Armstrong referenced in the preceding paragraph, he seemed to understand that the nobleman represented Christ, but he quickly abandons any notion of symbolic meaning and declares that this passage means that resurrect saints will be ruling over literal cities in God's Kingdom! In other words, he is making the parable conform to his understanding that the Kingdom of God is all about "GOVERNMENT."

Now, let's return to the parable itself and reread it without Mr. Armstrong's obvious bias. According to Luke, why did Jesus give this parable? Didn't he tell them this story "to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away?" Isn't it obvious that Christ's disciples had the same obsession with a literal, human-like kingdom that Herbert Armstrong developed? Didn't Christ's disciples think in terms of Christ overthrowing Roman rule and restoring the Davidic Kingdom? In this connection, please review Acts 1:6-8. Do you think that the parable is about actual money being distributed to Christ's disciples? Is it possible that the story is pointing to the gifts of the Holy Spirit being distributed to them? Is it possible that the story is suggesting that those servants should be about the business of growing in grace and knowledge - developing the fruits of that Spirit which were entrusted to them? Is it possible that the story is suggesting that those individuals who have grown the most in love, kindness, and mercy will be the greatest in the Kingdom? Indeed, wouldn't such an interpretation be more consistent with our understanding of the definition of a parable? What do you think?

One more thing. All of this brings another passage of Scripture to mind. In the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, we read:

10 His disciples came and asked him, 'Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?'

11 He replied, 'You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.'" (Matthew 13:10-13, NLT)

Is it just me, or does that suggest anything to you about Herbert Armstrong's status as a disciple of Jesus Christ?



Posted by Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix

LCG Members Need To Be More "Jesus Like" So They Can Make It Into The Kingdom

 

Work, work, work...

Stay Focused: Jesus taught, “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33), and He warned against being sidetracked by the cares of this world (Matthew 13:22). The Holy Days just ahead picture the culminating events in the Plan of God, and Satan will use all kinds of devices to distract us from focusing on God’s plan for mankind (2 Corinthians 2:11). Atonement pictures the time when Satan’s influence on the world will be removed. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the coming Millennial reign, when Jesus Christ and the Saints will reign on this earth and “restore all things” (Acts 3:19–21). The Last Great Day looks forward to a time when all who have ever lived will be resurrected into a very different world to finally learn the Truth (Revelation 20:5; John 7:37–38). During the Feast, make time to pray for the sermons and for God’s people. Take some quiet time to reflect on why you are at the Feast and how you can be a light and serve others. Identify changes you need to make to become more like Jesus Christ so you can be in God’s coming Kingdom.
Have a profitable Sabbath and a wonderful Feast,
Douglas S. Winnail