Chapter 9: Israel: The Way of Jeroboam

The biblical books of Samuel and Kings are both built on a theme: the house of David. The house of David is not one of the tribes of Israel; it is the descendants of David, from the tribe of Judah. Why is there so much in these books about the house of David? The answer to that question is one of the most inspiring truths in the Bible!

The subject in this chapter probably has about as much depth as anything you have ever read. So I hope you will not only read it, but carefully study it as well.

I want to show you a scripture that has profound meaning for all of us and for our understanding of the house of David.

1 Kings 12:16 says, “So when all Israel saw that the king [Rehoboam] hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.”

The people of Israel had a terrible attitude about the house of David.

Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, had just imposed some cruel demands, and the people revolted. When he sent Adoram, his chief tax collector, to deal with the problem, they stoned him to death. Rehoboam fled.

Verse 19 makes this profound statement: “So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.” Israel had a bad attitude about the house of David. The people were not just rebelling against Rehoboam, or against Judah, or against Jerusalem. God says they rebelled against the house of David! There is a big difference.

And Israel is still rebelling against the house of David unto this day!

I believe this verse has about as much depth as any scripture in the Bible. In this end time, Israel’s name is on America and Britain. (Request our book The United States and Britain in Prophecy for the explanation. All of our literature is free.)

The great sin of our ancestors was their rebellion against the house of David. It continues to be our major sin even to this day! That means we need to fully understand the sin of Jeroboam and who will be the type of Jeroboam in this end time! (See Amos 7:10-11. Jeroboam ii also came in the spirit of the first Jeroboam. The book of Amos is primarily an end-time prophecy.)

The leader of Israel today is the U.S. superpower. So whoever leads this nation just before its destruction will be a type of Jeroboam. According to the Amos prophecy, its leader will be confronted by a type of the Prophet Amos.

So can we know who this end-time Jeroboam is going to be?

Whoever he will be, he will rebel strongly against the house of David—physically and spiritually.

Let’s get some more background.

The Scepter Promise

Genesis 49 is an end-time prophecy about the modern-day descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel. In verse 10, the prophecy of Judah—whose descendants are the Jews—is what is called God’s “scepter promise”: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [speaking of Jesus Christ] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

The first part of that promise is that a Jewish descendant of David would rule on the throne right down to the Second Coming. Herbert W. Armstrong explained it this way in The United States and Britain in Prophecy: “Of course it is well understood that the scepter went to Judah and was handed down through the Jews. King David was of the tribe of Judah. All succeeding kings of David’s dynasty were of the house of David, tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ was born of the house of David and the tribe of Judah.” The second part of that promise is Jesus Christ, who is also from the house of David, will bring salvation to this world.

God promised that Israel’s kings would come from the house of David. That Davidic line of kings continues to this day. Jesus Christ Himself is about to return to Earth and inherit the throne of His father David! (Luke 1:31-33).

The house of David has a built-in vision. Understanding this vision will bring abundant inspiration and joy into our lives.

That scepter promise makes David’s dynasty, the house of David, much more important than something physical. We must not be casual about this because this is the very throne that Christ Himself is going to sit on. We need to understand this truth better. David’s throne is really God’s throne!

This is what Israel rebelled against.

People don’t pay much attention to that throne because they have rebelled against the house of David unto this day. They rebel not against a wooden chair, but against the house of David and God.

Anciently, the people of Israel rebelled against David’s house and set up Jeroboam as their king. Jeroboam turned away from the throne of David and from God. The Israelites didn’t have the Holy Spirit, but they still lacked faith in God even by the letter of the law. They wouldn’t stay loyal to the house of David, where God promised to keep His focus and His power.

Just as ancient Israel rebelled against the house of David, the nations of Israel today do as well. And spiritually, most of God’s people are rebelling against the house of David. His lukewarm people, the Laodiceans (Revelation 3:14-22), have rejected the key of David teaching, and they refuse to proclaim the message about the throne of David, where Christ will sit with His kings and priests forever! That is staggering! How could anybody lose contact with something so eternally majestic?

God makes two unbreakable covenants in Jeremiah 33:17-18: first, that a seed of the house of David would always be sitting on the throne of David, and second, that there would always be a minister or a priest proclaiming the message about that throne.

That message is this world’s only hope!

God has forcefully emphasized to His Church today that He wants us to focus on the house of David physically and spiritually.

The nations of Israel are rebelling against the house of David in the letter of the law, but spiritual Israel (or God’s end-time Church) is rebelling against the house of David spiritually. Rebelling by the letter of the law is bad enough—but rebelling by the spirit of the law, and God’s government that enforces that law, jeopardizes your eternal life!

The 10 tribes should have remained loyal to God’s promise and David’s throne in Jerusalem. They should have accepted the king and his lawful role—and let God take care of the man who sat on that throne.

God always establishes some kind of fallible human government on this Earth that we must obey. But it is still God’s rule that we embrace—not man’s government.

That is especially true of spiritual Israel or God’s Church. God’s Church today has God’s Holy Spirit. Still 95 percent of spiritual Israel has rebelled against the house of David, or the key of David (Revelation 3:7-9).

Here is a critical point: Why does God discuss physical or spiritual Israel rebelling against the house of David? Why doesn’t He just always say they are rebelling against God? Because God has a government on this Earth and a man He chooses to be the physical head under Christ.

Anybody can reason that they are obeying God when they are disobeying. But when God brings the house of David, the throne of David on this Earth, and a man on Earth proclaiming His warning message about that throne, it’s not easy to ignore.

Even if they ignore the message, it is still going to be a witness against them! (Matthew 24:14).

We must prove where God’s government is on this Earth. There you will find a strong loyalty to the truth about David’s throne or the key of David (which Christ gives to His Philadelphians in the last two eras of His Church).

We must learn to submit to God’s government on this Earth today. That is how we qualify to rule with Christ in the wonderful World Tomorrow and be His Bride forever.

We are commanded to follow God’s man as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).

God’s own lukewarm Church today is rebelling against God’s law and government. That is the way of Jeroboam.

America, Britain and the Jewish nation have a long history of rebelling against the letter of God’s law and government. That too is the way of Jeroboam.

The house of David ought to unite the Church of God today. Shortly, it will unite this whole world. All people are going to unite around David’s throne—which is really God’s throne. Yet the Laodiceans want no part of it! Not one of those groups even wants The United States and Britain in Prophecy. They are rebelling against the house of David, the only thing that will bring this world peace, joy and hope.

The Key of the House of David

Isaiah 22:20-25 contain an end-time prophecy about which God has revealed a great deal to us concerning Eliakim. Verse 21 says the man who fulfills this role “shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.” There is a physical and spiritual application to these scriptures, but we look mainly at the spiritual today.

Eliakim is a father “to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is a type of Israel and Judah. Looking at this spiritually, it is talking about the Church of God (spiritual Israel) and the very elect—the spiritual Jews of Revelation 3:9. He is also the father of “the house of Judah”—not the inhabitants of Judah. That means Eliakim is the father of a work in Judah. This Eliakim type has a key that unlocks an astounding work in the Jewish state in the Middle East. He will be doing an inspiring work in that land.

Verse 22 says of this man, “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” We must look at the key of the house of David spiritually also. God has given Eliakim a key to this royal house. What does that mean to you?

If Eliakim has a key of the house of David, he and his supporters must go inside that house. Isn’t that logical? That is the main message of that key. Those who marry Jesus Christ will share David’s throne with Christ. They will be kings and priests who are descended from David spiritually—from the spiritual house of David. They are not just spiritual Jews: They are spiritual Jews of the line of the royal house of David!

The house of David is already here in spiritual embryo.

The Philadelphians are the spiritual Jews in this end time who have the key of David (Revelation 3:7-8).

The Laodiceans say they are Jews, but God calls them liars (verse 9). Fifty percent are going to keep saying it until they are destroyed forever in a lake of fire. The other 50 percent will change when they face the Great Tribulation and their own death, and they finally repent of their vile rebellion against God.

In this end time, God has sent two apostles to help His people focus more on this truth. Both of these men descended from the house of David. (For more information, request our booklet Prophesy Again.)

We always must point to the king or queen who sits on that physical throne, and proclaim the message about that throne. But God’s government is not on that throne, or in any nation around this world—which is why the world is about to fall apart. God’s government is only in His true Church.

Jeroboam’s Rebellion

In 1 Kings 12, once the northern 10 tribes rebelled, Jeroboam wanted to make sure they never returned to the house of David. He hated that house, and was concerned that if the people continued to travel to Jerusalem to make sacrifices in the temple, they would go back to Rehoboam (verses 26-27).

This attitude in Jeroboam and the people led to what I believe is the greatest disaster in the history of Israel up until the time right ahead of us. Israel was conquered and lost its identity because of it.

Jeroboam’s rebellion against the house of David was rebellion against God! Anyone who starts going down that road will end up in the biggest calamity of his life! Most of God’s people today are heading in that direction.

Here is what Jeroboam did: “Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (verse 28). This was the biggest lie he could have possibly told: that these golden calves were the gods that delivered Israel from Egypt! He was flagrantly rebelling against the omnipotent, all-powerful God! Jeroboam knew that what he did was wrong, but a lot of people in Israel wanted to believe it. What do we have to do with the house of David? they reasoned. But it was the Creator of man whom they were disobeying.

Jeroboam even moved the keeping of God’s feast days to one month later: “And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made” (verse 32).

Where did this rebellion lead Israel? To this very day, the nations of Israel still rebel against the house of David and God—they still walk in the way of Jeroboam—and they are about to go through the worst trouble and greatest suffering this world has ever experienced!

The Laodiceans are also rebelling against the house of David, and they face the worst disaster ever in any Church of God!

If we leave the house of David, expect physical and spiritual catastrophe.

This is not something you can take lightly. God is very serious about the house of David!

A Dire Prophecy

When Jeroboam’s evil became apparent, God sent a messenger with a dire prophecy (1 Kings 13:1-2). This unnamed prophet told the evil king that his whole system of false religion was going to be destroyed by a righteous king. “[T]hus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee” (verse 2).

Miraculously, 360 years later, Josiah came on the scene. God prophesied this and brought it to pass! (You can read much more about this amazing prophecy and the significance of Josiah’s reign in my free booklet Lamentations: The Point of No Return. I also cover it more in Chapter 12.)

The unnamed prophet also did this: “And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out” (verse 3). Jeroboam was marching around the altar, arrogantly acting like the high priest, which he was not. He heard the prophet issue this prophecy against the altar, and he was so incensed that he stretched out his hand and ordered his men to lay hold of the prophet. At that instant, his hand dried up and would not move! (verse 4). Then the altar split in two, just as this prophet had said (verse 5).

At that moment, Jeroboam began to realize God was behind this man. “And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God”—he said your God to the prophet—“and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before” (verse 6). What an amazing event!

You would think that this would have been a life-altering experience for Jeroboam. But as with so many people, it didn’t change anything—he still refused to obey. Miracles from God just don’t have much effect on most people. They happen all the time, and yet people remain adamant in their rebellion.

Jeroboam Caused Israel to Sin

1 Kings 14:15-16 contain a prophecy about Israel being smitten, rooted up and scattered. These verses say that God “shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.” Jeroboam sinned, and he made Israel sin. Leaders can do that. This man turned Israel away from the house of David and God. The same thing happened in the Laodicean Church in this end time: The leaders turned the people away from the house of David and God!

Look at the results. The Laodiceans are wandering around and fighting each other. They are divided, and they keep shrinking and doing virtually no work. That is the price for going the way of Jeroboam!

What a contrast with God’s faithful remnant, those who will not give up on the throne of David message, and who remain loyal to the Head of this Church who is about to sit on that throne and rule the world! God keeps blessing us, and we are filled with wonder and joy!

The Way of Jeroboam

The chronicle of those northern 10 tribes that departed from David’s throne is absolutely terrible. It is filled with tragedy of every stripe, brutal politics, usurping and murder. It vividly shows the consequences of disloyalty to God’s throne!

The third king over the 10 tribes was Baasha. This man actually served as God’s instrument to correct the house of Jeroboam, it says, “Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger” (1 Kings 15:30).

However, before long, Baasha fell into the very sins for which Jeroboam was punished (verse 34). In 1 Kings 16, God sent him a strong message of correction. God started by saying, “Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel …” (verse 2).

What a supremely important point to remember! God was disgusted with this man’s behavior, and reminded him: Remember what you are! You were exalted out of the dust—you were nothing! Yet I put you over my people! Now, look what you’re doing with this power I’ve given you. I gave it so you could use it to turn Israel to God, to this throne and this house—yet you’re betraying that calling!

Loyal people of God’s Church today, we are the lowly of the world. We are dust! Yet look what God has given us. He is exalting us to be the greatest royalty on Earth—in the spiritual house of David forever. That is the greatest opportunity offered to man for all eternity! We will be Christ’s Bride forever. We must never forget that we are just dust—and that is all we will ever be apart from God. But look what God is doing with dust! It is truly miraculous what God does with dust!

Also in that verse, God condemns Baasha because he “walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins.” This became the pattern among this cursed people that turned away from the house of David. They continued to walk in the way of Jeroboam and to suffer for doing so.

God promised to destroy Baasha’s family (verse 3). Baasha’s son Elah reigned only a short time before he was murdered by his servant Zimri, who then seized the throne (verses 8-10). Zimri was only in power for seven days before the nation revolted against him (verse 15). He set fire to the king’s palace and died in it—and God again pinpoints the reason for his untimely end: “For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin” (verse 19).

The next king, Omri, was even worse. “But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities” (verses 25-26).

Then came Ahab, Omri’s son. Look at God’s assessment of his reign: “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam,” that he married Jezebel and began worshiping Baal (verses 30-31). Stupid Ahab! He thought it was a light thing to follow the way of Jeroboam! But it is no light thing! God cannot condemn it strongly enough!

In Israel today, people still think it is a light thing to walk in the way of Jeroboam.

God strongly condemns that attitude! It is not a light thing when we turn to the way of Jeroboam. It is going to bring the greatest disaster in your life! That is no light thing!

People simply don’t see the terrifying end of their decisions. They are too shallow spiritually, and they just don’t believe their own Bible!

Ahab married Jezebel, who was an extremely vicious woman. She had a stronger will than Ahab. Verse 33 says that under her influence, “Ahab [led by his wife, Jezebel] did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” We will learn more about Ahab in the next chapter.

Do you realize that we are witnessing the same scale of evil in Israel today? God is provoked! The nations of Israel will commit any evil and then publicize it for all the world to see! And they consider it just a light thing! But when they get through the nightmares that are coming, they won’t think that any longer.

A Succession of Sinful Kings

God condemned several kings who followed Ahab with the same analysis. Scripture is careful to record one particular detail that all these evil rulers had in common.

Ahab’s son, King Ahaziah, was just as evil as his father had been. “And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin … and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel …” (1 Kings 22:52-53).

As God’s kings and priests, we cannot live that way! We must be like God and drive out the evil forces! That is not an easy thing to do. It takes godly education and strong courage.

1 and 2 Kings are really one book. The Cambridge Bible says, “The division between 1 and 2 Kings is made in the middle of the short reign of Ahaziah, king of Israel, a severance which would never have been made by the compiler.” It’s clear that this was not an inspired division, but Bible scholars who divided this book think they know better, when they are just confusing people.

Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram followed on the throne, and “he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin” (2 Kings 3:3).

Of Jehoram’s successor, King Jehu, 2 Kings 10:31 tells us, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.”

Jehu’s son Jehoahaz “followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom” (2 Kings 13:2). God in His anger delivered the Israelites to the Syrians, and when Jehoahaz called out to God, God mercifully delivered them. But Israel went right back: “Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin …” (verse 6).

Verse 11 shows that Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash (or Joash), when he became king, committed the same sins of Jeroboam. In fact, he even named his own son Jeroboam! (2 Kings 14:23).

It’s no surprise that Jeroboam ii followed his father’s example: “he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam” (verse 24).

Jeroboam ii’s son, King Zachariah, also “departed not from the sins of Jeroboam” (2 Kings 15:9) and was quickly murdered.

The man who killed him, Shallum, ruled only a month before he too was assassinated (verses 13-14). His killer, Menahem, “departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam” (verse 18).

Of Menahem’s son and successor, Pekahiah, God says, “he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam” (verse 24). He also was murdered.

The king who followed him, Pekah, “departed not from the sins of Jeroboam” (verse 28). He died by assassination at the hand of Hoshea (verse 30).

Hoshea ended up being the last king of the northern kingdom, and he, too, was evil in God’s sight (2 Kings 17:2).

Each of the histories of the 19 kings of Israel begins with this shameful expression: “He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

This is the rebellious, bloody legacy of the northern 10 tribes! This is what happened to the people who turned their back on the house and throne of David! God took pains specifically to document that virtually every one of the 18 kings who succeeded Jeroboam was guilty of the same sins that Jeroboam committed! Once “Israel rebelled against the house of David,” it never turned it around! So the tragedies just went on and on.

And how did it end? “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria …” (verse 6). This happened in 718 b.c.

Israel had sinned and would not repent! “Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only” (verse 18).

Read this entire chapter, which is God’s summary of the whole history. Verses 21-22 say that God “rent Israel from the house of David; and they [the people] made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them.” Jeroboam made them sin a great sin! The people of Israel never should have listened to him. They should have listened to men like Elijah and Elisha—whom God sent to them during this time. But they didn’t—so God turned the Assyrians against them.

This history is prophecy! It is exactly what is about to happen to the nations of Israel in our day!

Who is about to strike Israel? Europe is almost falling apart financially, except for one powerful nation. God prophesies in Isaiah 10:5, “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation”!

God is coming to correct Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam! Our peoples have embraced that same evil way of life and a religion that does not come from their own Bibles. Anybody can prove that.

God says He wants us to live by every word that proceeds from His mouth! (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). He will fill our lives with joy and abundance, happiness and wonder if we will just heed what He says. But people will not listen, so He has to correct them.

What are the Laodiceans doing today? These people knew God and His Word! Yet now they keep experimenting with new things, and splitting off and fracturing. They are going in the way of Jeroboam! They have thrown away The United States and Britain in Prophecy. They don’t look to the house of David. They have flagrantly rebelled against God. They are leaving God with only one way to reach them, and that is by inflicting punishment and suffering.

God is not passive about people living the way of Jeroboam! The Holy Roman Empire is about to be fully formed—and it is going to correct modern Israel in the Great Tribulation! Just look at this world and you know it cannot continue for much longer.

We can easily see that bad news—but we also need to see the hope! This is the last assault of any significance that the Gentiles will make on Israel!

The Spirit of Jeroboam

A prophecy for God’s Church today talks about this subject.

In Amos 7:9, God says, “And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” This is an end-time prophecy, and yet God is still upset with Israel and its spirit of Jeroboam.

The “high places of Isaac” is a coded expression meaning a religion that started correctly but later rebelled against God. The “sanctuaries of Israel” are the churches of this world. (This is all explained in our Amos booklet.)

Verse 10 speaks of “Amaziah the priest of Bethel.” Bethel means the house of God. This is a priest right out of the house of God; it must be our mother church, the Worldwide Church of God. And here is what this man is prophesied to do: This priest “sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.” Here is somebody right out of God’s house saying that.

In Amos’s time, the king spoken of was Jeroboam ii. This man “departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin” (2 Kings 14:24). Even though it wasn’t the original Jeroboam, Amos’s prophecy is talking about Jeroboam and the spirit of Jeroboam.

There are scriptures throughout these former prophets about how Israel rebelled by going the way of Jeroboam. And what did Jeroboam do? He rebelled against the house of David and God. God talks about Jeroboam here because the people today in Israel are doing the same thing! Do you want to talk to them about the Feast of Tabernacles and the other holy days of God? Or about the Sabbath, which is a sign that they are God’s people if they keep it the right way? Jeroboam changed these holy observances and, unto this day, the nations of Israel do as he did!

Here is a priest from what was, at least at one time, the Church of God. And this priest is allied with Jeroboam, who rebelled against the house of David and God! The Laodiceans—certainly the mother church—are making an alliance that tells you they are also rebelling against the house of David! They are anxious to get away from that house and that throne and what God teaches about it—because they have the spirit of Jeroboam. It’s the same spirit that is in physical Israel today.

You can read in Raising the Ruins of how wcg leaders in the 1970s cut The United States and Britain in Prophecy down to almost nothing and then discontinued it. When Mr. Armstrong learned of their rebellion, he put those men out and restored that book. However, the Church leadership did the same thing after Mr. Armstrong died: slashing two thirds of the text, claiming it was too expensive to distribute, and finally killing it altogether. What did they have against that book? It virtually built the Work! That was plainly the spirit of Jeroboam at work.

In a 1992 letter to a wcg member, Joseph Tkach Jr. wrote that “British Israelism” (his term for Mr. Armstrong’s teaching) is “a racist doctrine that sees the British Empire as the Kingdom of God on Earth, and the whites as God’s favorite people.” That is a complete lie!

That man said it was his duty to keep Mr. Armstrong’s “errors” out of circulation. That is rebellion against God and the house of David! We had to go to court to win The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

The Sardis Church also rejected that truth, and God says that church is dead (Revelation 3:1). The Laodiceans rejected it, and they are dying spiritually! (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Anyone who decides to reject the house of David will suffer the same fate.

We must tell the Laodiceans, as well as the people of Israel, that they are going the way of Jeroboam—and then show them what happens when you do that! Just look at the history of Jeroboam! Israel was taken captive and practically disappeared from this world until Mr. Armstrong came and widely published the truth about its modern identity. Of course Christ and the first-century Church preached this, but they didn’t reach nearly as many people as we do. God wants this message to go out most of all in this end time, just before Christ returns to sit on that throne. We must have a big megaphone to announce that Christ is about to return, and to let people know what the solution to all their problems is.

“Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words” (Amos 7:10). This priest is going to say that the people can’t bear our message. But they will have to bear it for a short span of time. God will ensure that message is broadcast right out of the house of David.

This is not about a book—it’s about the house of David and God, and the government soon to be ushered in on Earth.

We need to understand this, because it is also about us. It’s about you, and it’s about your qualifying to sit on that throne forever. Look at this history, and how many people have turned away! Most of God’s people are not qualified! But you are the spiritual house of David, and this is all about that house.

We must proclaim the message about the throne of David today. If we fail to do so, we will not qualify to sit on that headquarters throne forever!

We know that most people will not listen to us—but some will. However, a great multitude will repent and turn to God when the Great Tribulation strikes. That is when we will reap the real fruits of our work. What a blessing to have the opportunity to get God’s message out to this dying world. Christ is about to return! And if we do what God commands, what a reward God will give us!

We are going to teach the whole world about the throne of David! God says He is going to give those kings and priests a rod of iron. We will teach, and people will listen and accept it. How people need that wonderful education.

We are getting ready to help Christ rule the world. We are His wife—kings and priests of the spiritual house of David. What a blessing!