Restored Doctrines
In a sermon titled Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era, given on 17th December 1983 - Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong spoke of many of the doctrinal teachings restored within the True Church, by God, through him.
Part of the transcript of this sermon is reproduced here.
An additional point (point 19) was also added to this list during a subsequent bible Study called The Spiritual Law vs. Rituals given on 21st January 1984
Restored Doctrines: Sermon begins…
"Greetings, everybody! This afternoon I want to speak on the mission of the Philadelphia Era of the Church - this Church today in comparison to the first Church - or the first era of the Church - the Ephesus Era of the Church.
It's been seeming more and more to me, as the years go by, that the Bible was written primarily for the Philadelphia Era of the Church…
(2min 7sec) …Most prophecy in the bible referrs to our time now, and is concerned with our time - not with the time back in the first century, not in the Middle Ages. How many times do you find in the bible "In that day - such and such will happen - in that day - in that day?" Again and again, especially in the Old Testament prophecies. And it is referring to the time now - leading on into the second coming of Christ. The coming of Christ the Messiah.
And these events - and these days - just preceeding, when there is the greatest mission of the Church: and that is the mission that has devolved down on us. Today's mission of the Church you will find in Matthew 24:14. And this gospel of the kingdom - that is the same gospel that Jesus preached - shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
What Christ Will Restore:
(46min 28sec) "…Verse 19, the third chapter of Acts. Peter said, 'Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD, and He shall send - the time when He shall send - Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive, Now He's ascended up to heaven and the heavens would receive Him UNTIL a certain time; until the times of restitution of all things, which God had spoken to them out of the mouth of His Holy prophets since the world began.
Now 'restitution.' Look that word up in the dictionary. Restitution means restoring to a former condition, a former state or condition. Restoring what had been taken away, restoring what had been taken away. So now I ask you, what is Christ coming to restore that had been taken away? What had been taken away was the government of God, the government of God. And if you know the whole bible, that's the whole story of the bible - that's the whole purpose - everything!…"
Elijah To Restore All Things:
(1hr 9m 25sec) …But what are the protestant preachers preaching? 'Just receive Jesus Christ and you're already born again!' POPPYCOCK!! They are WRONG! They are in ERROR! THAT is the teaching that Satan the DEVIL has given them! That ALONE - is not enough! That's a start, but it's not enough. It takes far more.
The world has lost the purpose of God. They have lost all knowledge of the Gospel of Christ - which is the Kingdom of God. They have lost all of these things…
(1hr 10m 30sec) …Elijah was to come and restore things. Jesus is going to come and restore the Government - and through the Government, everything. But WHAT was Elijah to restore? And brethren, HAS it happened yet? HAS it been restored? And what was restored?
The Restored Truths Listed…
1. True Gospel
(1hr 10m 55sec) The world had lost the Gospel. They didn't know what the Gospel was: I came among the True Church of God of the Sardis Era, They didn't know what the Gospel was, they thought it was what they called the third angel's message. They didn't know what the gospel really was. They called it a third angel's message. God revealed it to me and through me, to the Church.
That the gospel is the Kingdom of God, that is the gospel Jesus preached, that's the gospel Paul preached to the Gentiles, that's the gospel that Peter and John preached. You'll find when Jesus sent them out and sent out 70, He said preach the Kingdom of God. That is the only gospel, is the gospel OF Jesus Christ.
The world preached and has a gospel ABOUT Christ. Now the first thing to be restored to the Church is the true gospel.
2. Purpose of God
(1hr 11m 57sec) "The second thing to be restored is the PURPOSE of God. And the gospel has to do with that. That God IS reproducing us and that MAN CAN BECOME God! No other Church on earth believes that, brethren. And now let me tell you, I'm going to reveal to you, now, things that have been restored in this Church.
And let me tell you, these are all things that some of those who have been ministers in this Church - in high office - have gone out and now are saying, and saying publicly, that we are departing from the faith and that we are going farther and farther into error. Because they will not receive the Truths that God has been restoring into the Church!
God's purpose is that He's reproducing Himself and that we, ultimately, become God."
3. God's Plan Through the Holy Days
(1hr 12m 54sec) "Now another thing that has been restored is, through the Holy Days, God's plan, His Master Plan for accomplishing that purpose, and the annual Holy Days. And no other Church has had those Holy Days, and understands them…"
4. Government
(1hr 14m 48sec) "The government of God has been restored to the Church, and the government of God has been placed in the Church. You read that in Ephesians 4 and I Corinthians 12. Christ is the head of the Church and under Christ in the administration of the government are an apostle or apostles, then evangelists, then pastors, then all are called elders, all ministers all the way up clear down to the lowest. So then there are teachers and elders both speaking elders and preaching elders, deacons and deaconesses. And the Church is restored in that form of government. The Sardis Church even didn't have the right form of government"…
5. Who and What Is God
(1hr 15m 46sec) "Who and what God IS. NO RELIGION ON EARTH KNOWS WHO AND WHAT GOD IS! NO RELIGION ON EARTH! … GOD IS NOT A TRINITY! GOD IS NOT A SINGLE PERSON! God is a Family of persons, and the Family began with God and the Word. You read of that in John 1:1-5. You read of it in Genesis 1 beginning with verse 1.
You should learn about God first, and it begins first both in the New Testament and the Old, because many experts feel that - errh, so-called experts let me add - that the book of John should be placed first in the New Testament, although it was not written first. That God is a family and it began with the two, and we can be born into that family."
6. What and Why is Man?
(1hr 17m 4sec) "Now the next thing that's restored to the Church - what and why man is! WHAT IS MAN? WHY DID WE COME TO BE ON EARTH? The Sardis Church didn't know, they didn't know in the Middle Ages. Man was made from the dust of the ground. Man was made with one spirit and he needs another Spirit, the Spirit of God which unites him with God, and is the impregnation of God-life in him, and he will be born of God."
7. Spirit in Man
(1hr 17m 35sec) "Next the human spirit IN man. No other Church knows about that. That has been revealed to the Church. That is knowledge that has been restored to the Church of God. And this Church has that knowledge."
8. First-Fruits
(1hr 17m 51sec) "Another, the next piece of knowledge that has been restored to this Church, that the rest don't know and no other Church knows it: that this Church is the first-fruits. That God is not trying to save the whole world now. He's calling us out now and He'll use us as teachers to help save the others in THEIR turn, and they in turn, from the Millennium, will help save all the rest in the great White Throne Judgment.
And ultimately, God's going to go after the saving of everybody who ever lived. But no Church understands that, that we are the first-fruits, we are the embryo of the Kingdom of God. The fact that we have to be called by God, and that salvation is not open to just anyone, whosoever will. The whosoever will may come is found in the last chapter of the Bible, and does not pertain to this time at all. And no other Church seems to know that. That knowledge has been restored to this Church."
9. Knowledge of What the Millennium Is
(1hr 19m 0sec) "The knowledge of the Millennium and what it is. Now the Sardis people knew that Christ would rule a thousand years. They knew it would be a Millennium. They had NO IDEA IN THE WORLD about what would happen in the Millennium. They HAD NO IDEA WHAT IS THE PURPOSE of the Millennium.
We know when we assemble at the Feast of Tabernacles, that's what we're celebrating, and we know what's going to happen in the Millennium and that salvation will be open, then, to all that are still alive. But it is not open to all now. No other Church knows that. These are things that YOU, brethren, are privileged to know. YOU, God has blessed you with this knowledge, has restored this knowledge to you."
10. Truth About the Holy Spirit
(1hr 19m 48sec) "Now truth regarding the Holy Spirit -"
Added from: Mystery of the Ages, pages 56-57: "The Holy Spirit came from heaven, audibly, sounding like a mighty wind, "and it [the Holy Spirit] filled all the house where they were sitting." Next, the Holy Spirit appeared--WAS VISIBLY SEEN--manifested--"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it [the Holy Spirit in the form of divided tongues] sat upon each of them" (Acts 2:2-3). In verse 18, Peter is quoting from the prophet Joel: "I will pour out…of my Spirit…"
The Holy Spirit, like water or a fluid, can be "POURED OUT." Can you pour out a person from one into another--as from God into those assembled there? John 7:37-39: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy [Spirit] was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" Again in Acts 10:45, "…on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy [Spirit]."
11. Begotten Now
(1hr 19m 54sec) "And the fact that we are begotten now. You're not born yet, only begotten".
Added from: Mystery of the Ages, pages 260-261: "Now, as the physical male sperm finds its way to, and unites with the nucleus in the ovum, so God's Spirit enters and combines with the human spirit and MIND! There is, as explained before, a spirit IN man. This human spirit has combined with the brain to form human MIND. God's Spirit unites with, and witnesses with our spirit that we are, now, the children of GOD (Romans 8:16). And God's Holy Spirit, now combined with our human spirit in our MIND, imparts to our mind power to comprehend SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE (I Corinthians 2:11) - which the carnal mind cannot grasp.
"Now we have the presence of ETERNAL LIFE - God-life - through God's Spirit. In like manner the human embryo was an actual human life as yet undeveloped. But we are not yet immortal spirit beings - not yet BORN of GOD - just as the human ovum was not yet born of its human parents--not yet inheritors, and possessors, but physical HEIRS (Romans 8:17). But IF God's Holy Spirit dwells in us, God will, at the resurrection, "quicken" to immortality our mortal bodies BY his Spirit that "dwelleth in us" (Romans 8:11; I Corinthians 15:49-53)"
12. Born-Again at Resurrection
(1hr 19m 59sec) "That we will become born at the time of the second coming of Christ, when this mortal puts on immortality, when we won't be human any longer, we'll be divine. The knowledge that he that is born of the flesh IS flesh, mortal, that's what we are. That is when you're born in the Spirit you will BE Spirit."…
13. Identity of Israel
(1hr 20m 27sec) "Another thing restored to us is our own roots, our identity, who we are. We [within the USA] are the tribe of Manasseh of the lost ten tribes of Israel, and no other Church on earth knows it. That knowledge has been restored into this Church, and God restored that to me 53 years ago."
14. Identity Opens Up Understanding of Bible Prophecy
(1hr 20m 51sec) "Our identity. And that opens all the doors of one third of the whole bible - prophecy - you can't understand without that knowledge. That opened a whole third of the bible which is prophecy, that's a third of the bible. and so a third of the bible, and the understanding of prophecy has been opened to this Church. That has been restored to this Church."
Has God sent someone to restore knowledge to this Church brethren? I'm not tooting any horns, I'm just telling you what has actually happened! And you know it's happened. The fact that the annual festivals - that they represent Gods Plan.
15. Second and Third Tithe
(1hr 21m 41sec) "The second and third tithe, what other Church knows about that? And that was restored by this Church, that knowledge restored by this Church."
16. Identity of Babylon and Her Daughters
(1hr 21m 50sec) "Then the great deception, the counterfeit of Revelation 17:5, Babylon, the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, her daughter churches and who they are."
17. Satan is the Guilty Party
(1hr 22m 8sec) "And the fact that Satan, the devil, has deceived the whole world. Brethren, Satan is the one who is guilty. Those people in the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches have been deceived. And I think they really believe. God just hasn't opened any more truth to them. We don't sit in judgment of them. We're not judging them yet. We're going to do it and when we judge them, then all truth will be opened and God will take away the blindness from their eyes so they can understand if they're willing. Today they couldn't understand it, even if they're willing. I don't think they're willing, either, as far as that goes."
18. We Are to Be Separate
(1hr 22m 53sec) "And how in Revelation 18:4 that God has called us out from among them, to be separate."
19. Correctly Placing the Emphasis on God the Father
(19m 9sec) (Bible Study 21 Jan 1984) "…This opposition put an emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah and it had a tendency to DEemphasise God the Father. Now bear that in mind. Because I didn't mention that Sabbath. That's another truth. I don't know that I've mentioned that before. Perhaps some of you never thought of that. Let's say we're revealing that truth then - right now. And so the de-emphasising of God the Father came on and they began to look on Jesus …" (also see last paragraph of closing comments below…)
Conclusion of the Sermon:
(1hr 23m 4sec) "Well, brethren, all those things have been restored and there is a mission for this Church that never applied, and has never been done by any other Church. This gospel of the kingdom has been restored and shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. Has that been done? Has that been restored? Is that gospel going out to the world?…
…But thanks and praise to God, He has restored knowledge. That is all God's doing. None of us can be anything more than human instruments. If I have been willing to do anything, it is only because God Himself brought about circumstances to compel me and make me willing whether I wanted to be or not. And even then, I can take no credit whatsoever. It was all the doing of God. Through Jesus Christ.
But remember this - the Protestant Churches, they just have Christ. We have to come to God by way of Christ. And Jesus taught us: when you pray, pray our Father which art in heaven - and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. He said, whatsoever we ask The Father in His Name - the Name of Christ - God will do. If we ask in faith, believing - we must ask what God has promised to do. Remember that faith is simply believing that God will not lie. And that what God has promised He will perform. So, let's be thankful. Let's praise God for it. Let's give all thanks to God Almighty - The Father.
Note: The above sermon provides a few of the high spots of our beliefs. However, what God requires of His people is far, far more extensive than merely believing a few doctrines. For a partial explanation, please see the article "That Way"
However, the greatest source of information - that explains why we believe as we do - can be be found within the booklet "Just What is an APOSTLE?" In addition to being able to read it online, this booklet is also available in printed form - FREE on request. Order it from: email