Chapter 5: Where Is God?

We must find and back the right work. God’s people are divided into many different groups. Jeremiah tells us why: It is because too many are not asking the right question.

Consider this statement from God’s indictment against His lukewarm people in the early chapters of Jeremiah: “Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?” (Jeremiah 2:6).

This is the vital question: Where is God? If He has a Work, how do we find it?

God brings His people out of spiritual Egypt, a type of this world. It takes God’s great power to free us from Satan’s bondage and lead us in His ways. Has God done that for you? If so, think of all the spectacular miracles God had to perform to draw you out of the world! Do you remember those miracles? Spend some real time, even on your knees, thinking about what your life would be like if God had not called you—if you were still captive to your own sins and to this evil, Satan-deceived world.

God condemns those of His people who have forgotten this history. He says they should be asking, Where is the Eternal who freed us from this world? Where is God? This is the top priority: We must know where God is! What is a saint or a church that doesn’t know the answer to that question?

The living God led us out of this sin-soaked world. He also led us “through the wilderness” of many trials. God did that for His Church. Now, shamefully, most of those who were in that Church don’t know where this omnipotent, all-powerful God is, and they are not even seeking Him! Many want to be part of a church—but they are not even trying to find out where God is.

Verse 8 shows that the ministers are not asking, “Where is the Lord?” That is a major failure we have seen during this Laodicean era. The ministers should be leading the people to God—but they don’t even know where He is, and they aren’t even asking the question!

“Where is God?” This is the only question that will lead us to God! He is on this Earth in spirit, leading a group of His people who are faithful to Him—and you can prove that! We must be able to discern where God is, the God whose countenance shines like the sun in its full strength! (Revelation 1:16).

The Old Paths

Jeremiah gives us a powerful key for finding God: Think back and recall your history with Him.

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein” (Jeremiah 6:16).

Remember how God called you out of this world. What books did you read? What work did He use? What man did He use? Get grounded in that history with God, recall your previous relationship with God, and it will point you to where He is working today.

God’s Laodicean Church and the nations of Israel were shown the “old paths” but refused to walk in them. God’s Church had God’s truth revealed to them in this end time by Herbert W. Armstrong. But most of them have rebelled and forsaken that truth—the old paths—not holding to the traditions or teachings they received (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

This formula would help our nations as well. The nations of Israel—mainly America, the British peoples and the Jewish nation—have a history with God. No other nation has ever been called by God to set a righteous example for the world. No other nation was ever given such a commission! But Israel has rejected those old paths. We now lead the world in drug usage, crime, pornography and every other pathology.

You could even say that in the United States, the “old paths” includes the Constitution. If people would return to what the nation’s forefathers said, they would be in far better shape compared to what they are doing and saying today!

Looking to Men

There are several different Laodicean groups in this end time. They all had God’s truth and became lukewarm. They erroneously assume God is leading all of them and that they will all be united in a place of safety. That is simply not biblical. God wants us to be perfectly united even today (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:10; John 17:11). Matthew 24:40-41 show that only one group will be taken to a place of safety.

Many people today bounce from one Laodicean group to another without a second thought. They often say, “Let’s all get together.” But that is not the right goal. The question uppermost on their minds should be, “Where is God?” We must get together with God. There is no glory in congregating with others if God is not among us! (1 John 1:3). That is what Aaron and the Israelites did when Moses climbed Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. They ended up worshiping the golden calf (Exodus 32). They got together—but God wasn’t with them, and He was deeply angered by their “worship”!

“Where is God?” This one big question, if honestly answered, will always keep us anchored in the truth. Answer this question correctly and there should never be a serious problem answering other questions.

If we are going to build for God, we must start on this foundation: “Where is God?”

“How lightly you gad about, changing your way! …” (Jeremiah 2:36; rsv). The Laodiceans are double-minded and erratic, jumping from one idea to another, trying this and that, instead of holding fast that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). They have access to the almighty, unchanging God! Yet they look to and trust in pitiful, unstable men, including themselves.

How about you? Does your life lack the stability and strength that comes from truly building your life on the Rock? (e.g. Psalm 18:2; Matthew 7:24-27). Do you drift, wander or roam spiritually?

Jeremiah 2:36 concludes, “You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria” (rsv). Anciently, the kingdom of Judah tried to court Assyria; King Ahaz even hired Assyria to fight for them (2 Kings 16:7-9). That was delusional! The Assyrians ended up conquering their cities (2 Kings 18:13). To protect themselves from the Babylonians, the Jews tried to ally themselves with Egypt—the same nation God had freed their fathers from! God warned that this alliance would result in the Chaldeans burning Jerusalem with fire and that He would deliver the Egyptians to the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 37:5-10; 46:25-26).

In our day, God’s lukewarm people are making the same mistake spiritually, and the same fate awaits them! God warns that they are headed for a terrifying captivity, and says, “[T]he Lord has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them” (Jeremiah 2:37; rsv). This is what happens when people trust in politicians—or doctors, or their bank accounts, or anyone or anything else more than God!

Why trust weak, fallible men? We must trust God! That is how to have real stability and blessings in our lives.

After Herbert W. Armstrong died, it was a confusing time for all of us. In their confusion, many people looked to men for solutions. They followed their local minister into a splinter group; they looked to an evangelist they thought was a good speaker; they picked the largest wcg offshoot, or the one most of their friends or family attended. That is, essentially, looking to Egypt and to Assyria. Only one thing matters: Where is God?

Prayerfully ask yourself, Why am I attending with this group? Is it so you don’t rock the boat with your immediate family? Is it because you like the minister? Is it because they have a congregation near you? There is only one acceptable reason to be with any church: because God is there!

Shamefully, we are all prone to look to men and to material solutions instead of to the loving, Almighty God. Scrutinize your heart for areas where you are failing to trust God completely. Look for any substitute, any counterfeit, and eliminate it! Strive with all your being to put your full trust in the one and only true God!

Love God’s Government

Do you really want God to govern your life? This is a crucial question each of us must think deeply about.

God has called His people out of this world today to prepare us to rule in the World Tomorrow. We qualify for rulership by learning to be ruled by God now.

How much do you love God’s government? God governs His people directly through the Holy Spirit, and we need to be led by that Spirit, responsive to God’s guidance (Romans 8:14). God also leads His people through the government structure He has put within His Church (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Ephesians 4:4-16; Hebrews 13:17).

Some people don’t like any form of government; they can’t get along in any church. But if we love God, we ought to profoundly love His government.

Jesus Christ wanted His Father to rule Him completely. He was perfectly obedient. He declared the Father (John 1:18). He continually pointed His disciples to His Father. “My Father is greater than I,” He said (John 14:28). He was deeply submitted to His Father. “… I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do,” He said (verse 31). “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. … I do always those things that please him“ (John 6:38; 8:29). He did everything He could, and still does, to be like His Father (e.g. John 5:19).

That is a wonderful example to follow. God wants you to be such a “beloved son,” in whom He can be so well pleased (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). You have a Father, and He wants you to understand that and become more and more like Him.

Here is a statement from Christ I have always marveled at: “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9).

Jesus Christ was so righteous that He said, If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. What a statement! Oh, if we could all say, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father”! Christ loves His Father more than you and I can even imagine. He said, I act just like Him. I do everything just like my Father. If He were down here on Earth, He would do what I’m doing exactly the same way. How astounding!

Jesus Christ wants to develop within each of us the very same love that He has for His Father. Then, when we go out into the universe and people ask, “What are you doing?”, we can say, “What you see done here is exactly what the Father would do.” This is the beautiful love of God, and He wants it to fill our lives!

King David developed that love. “I delight to do thy will, O my God,” he wrote, “yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). He pleaded for God to actively direct and govern his life: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God … lead me into the land of uprightness. … Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 143:10; 139:23-24). David wanted God to examine and govern his deepest thoughts and motives! This made him a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).

This desire for God’s rule is repeatedly expressed by the Prophet Jeremiah in Psalm 119: “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments …. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies …. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way” (verses 35-37). Make me do right—turn my heart—direct my eyes to where they should be! Jeremiah truly wanted God to rule him—even the inclinations of his heart! He wanted to subject his will completely to God!

“[L]et me not wander …” (verse 10). “Make me to understand …” (verse 27). “Order my steps in thy word …” (verse 133). Jeremiah didn’t just ask God, “Guide my life,” but, Direct my every step! If God doesn’t order our steps, then we wander off our own way. Either God rules our life—or sin does! (Romans 6:16).

Compare your own attitude to that of these very righteous men. This childlike submission is exactly what God needs in all of us! This is what is going to make His Family live in beautiful harmony for all eternity!

The better you see that, the better you can recognize why God is deeply upset with the great majority of His people during this Laodicean era.

Government Problem

The early chapters of Jeremiah reinforce a warning to the Laodiceans that is conveyed in several Bible passages: They refuse to let God rule them.

Jeremiah 2:24 says that, spiritually, God’s people are behaving like a wild ass in heat! That is deeply corrective! It means they have rejected God’s bridle—His government.

Look at what has happened to God’s people. Many have wandered from church to church. They leave one because it splits; another, because they disagree with a policy or doctrine. They are wandering around like a wild ass, going wherever they please.

How can God spiritually harness and direct anyone who is in such a state? We should be the opposite: precisely following God in every possible way. These people have broken the yoke and roam without purpose. God is giving them a vivid picture of how far they have departed from Him. They must understand their spiritual state and change. God must punish them until they repent. There is no other way into His Kingdom.

In verse 25, God pleads, “Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst ….” He is warning that their attitude will take them into the horrors of captivity, traveling barefoot and denied water to quench their thirst. But instead of heeding, they talk back, answering: “It is hopeless, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go” (rsv). What bitter stubbornness! What rebellion and delusion!

I have actually heard some people who have deserted God essentially say these words—as if it is impossible to repent! Woe to anyone who talks back to God when He is trying to turn us around. Are we so steeped in sin that we don’t want to leave it?

‘We Are Lords’

“O generation, see ye [or heed] the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?” (Jeremiah 2:31). God is pleading for people to heed His Word! As in verse 5, He is asking, What wrong have I done to you? “Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food], A land of thick and deep darkness [like a path without light]?” the Amplified Bible reads. Obviously He has not! Why, then, are you treating me this way? He asks.

God is speaking to people whom He once ruled—but who now say spiritually, “We are lords.” They are not babes and humble people—they see themselves as “lords,” refusing to come to God. They will not heed God’s Word; they want to rule themselves! Jeremiah 10:23 says that man cannot rule himself!

Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon says the Hebrew word translated “We are lords” is “specially used of beasts which have broken the yoke and wander freely” or “a people, who, having as it were, broken God’s yoke, go on unbridled” (emphasis mine throughout). Once broken loose, they “will come no more” to God. The Amplified Bible renders the last part of this verse, “Why do My people say, ‘We [have broken loose and we] are free to roam [at will]; We will no longer come to You’?”

That is the foundational problem with this world—people are ungovernable! Tragically, so many of God’s own people have the same headstrong attitude. They have rejected God’s government and will not heed God. They are unbridled!

God’s faithful people must be bridled and readily corrected by God. Christ Himself pleads with us to voluntarily take on His yoke that we might find rest (Matthew 11:28-30).

“We are lords” describes the arrogance of so many of God’s people today. They don’t look for the Church God has established; they make the choice themselves based on their own preferences. Thousands have stopped attending any church. They don’t see the need for what they call a “human” government. They are their own minister—saying, in effect, “We are lords.”

So many have moved away from what God plainly reveals in the Bible and showed to Mr. Armstrong about how God leads and organizes His Church!

Is God’s Church Divided?

One common idea today is that many of the dozens of different groups the wcg splintered into after Mr. Armstrong died are doing God’s Work in different ways. They think God’s Church is divided into branches, with different organizations, different leaders, even different doctrines. We’re all God’s Church, they reason. We’ll all be together in the place of safety.

That is delusional human reasoning—not Bible truth! Please read Chapter 6 of Mystery of the Ages, “Mystery of the Church,” and be reminded of the sound Bible-based teaching God gave us through Mr. Armstrong.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Do the scattered Church of God groups even come close to fitting that description?

The Church is the Body of Christ. He is its living Head, and He actively leads it! He commanded that His people be unified in spirit—spiritually one even as He and God the Father are one! (John 17:21). Christ is not working through hundreds of different presidents, boards, ministries and voters to do His Work. All those differences, disagreements and divisions are a product of sin!

God used Peter to establish His Church (Matthew 16:18), and He has used a human leader ever since. To have a Work, we must have leadership. Through God’s government, we are united. We would have chaos and confusion if we lacked His leadership. God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). But the reality is, Satan is always attacking God’s government. He seeks to disrupt God’s Work, discourage God’s people, and attack those whom God is calling. So it is crucial we be deeply grounded in God’s government and that we show our love toward God by loving His government.

God nurtures His Spirit-begotten people, preparing them for birth into His Family, through His one government (Ephesians 4:11-13), teaching pure, true doctrine (see verses 3-6). Christ still leads and feeds His Church! Your responsibility—and your only hope—is to find Him!

The Loner Christian

Remember the purpose for which God is calling people today, and it becomes clear that He is not working with various groups of called-out ones or with individuals spread throughout the world in no real contact with each other.

Again, why are we called? As Mr. Armstrong explained in Mystery of the Ages, we are called to fulfill a two-part commission: to “go ye into all the world” with the message of God’s coming Kingdom, as well as a warning about the coming Great Tribulation; and to “feed my sheep,” or care for those God calls into the Church and nurture them as they back that first commission.

What kind of work does a loose network of loner Christians accomplish for God? If you have “dropped out of organized religion,” please ask yourself: What have I really done to reach this world? As we saw in Chapter 4, you are not called simply to get knowledge or salvation. You are called for a great purpose in service to this world! If you are not doing that, it is not too late to change.

The loner Christian is not only failing to support that commission to the world, he is also not preparing to rule with Jesus Christ! Remember what Mr. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages: “The person who says, ‘I will get my salvation alone, outside of the Church’ is totally deceived. This is not the time when salvation is opened to those in Satan’s world. Those called now, I repeat emphatically, are not called just for salvation. They are called for a special training provided only in God’s Church.

“Those in Satan’s world cannot train themselves outside of the Church for the special calling of being rulers and teachers in God’s Kingdom when Satan is removed and the world has become God’s world.

“The Church is organized on God’s pattern of mutual teamwork and cooperation to function perfectly together. They shall become the God Family as it shall exist at the time of Christ’s Second Coming. Remember God IS that divine Family!”

Mr. Armstrong used the analogy of a football player who wanted to train alone instead of with the team and still expected to play in the games. No coach would ever permit that, and neither will God bring someone into His Family at the resurrection who wasn’t part of His Church during this spiritual “training season.”

In John 15:5, Jesus Christ said about His followers, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Mr. Armstrong explained, “Those not joined with others of the branches, all joined to the main vine, were no part of the Church, and God the Father will cast them away as dead branches. The life (spirit life impregnated now) is received along with all other ‘branches’ from the main vine—Christ, the Head of the Church!”

Remember, Jeremiah described God’s people as a “noble vine.” Yet many are now a “strange vine”—they are no longer part of God’s organization!

Present Truth

How do we find God’s one true Church? One way, as Jeremiah instructs us, is to recall how God brought us out of Egypt and then search for the Church continuing that Work. Another important clue is that God continues to give new truth to His Church.

Where is the God of revelation? The Apostle Peter wrote, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). We must remember past truth “and be established in the present truth.” We must regularly review foundational truths, like those God restored to His Church through Mr. Armstrong, to make sure we don’t let them slip. But we must also be established in present truth.

God is always revealing “present truth” based on what He has already revealed in the past. That means there is always a powerful Work if His people are submissive. God provides an “open door” (Revelation 3:7-8) through which we can deliver His revealed truth.

Anytime God reveals new truth, He does so through His government (Amos 3:7; Ephesians 3:5). Then He uses the same government to proclaim that truth. To be established in the present truth, we must have government.

God calls into His Church people who are adept researchers, who prove His truth from the Bible. That is a good, healthy trait; God commands that (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Some people, however, have gotten carried away with endless research and are relying on their own reasoning and interpretation instead of recognizing how God uses His government to teach us (e.g. Romans 10:14). Satan has wedged his way in and drawn them away from God.

So in 2 Peter 1:12 God says, First let’s make sure we have the right foundation. Always remember the truths you have already been taught. That gets you grounded. You have solid direction as you study present truth. Through His government, God appoints a leader to stir us up and help keep us “in remembrance of these things” (verses 13-15).

We must do things according to God’s direction through His government. Don’t be a religious hobbyist who hops from one point to another to another and never really digs in and gets established in what God has given, past and present truth.

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy [Spirit]” (verses 20-21). We cannot privately interpret Scripture; only God can reveal its meaning. He revealed His truth to one man, Mr. Armstrong, and He is using one human leader in the Laodicean era.

God has always used human leaders. He has always had a government that He moves and stirs with His Spirit. He uses a loyal following to back and support that leader in establishing present truth.

Lying Words

Jeremiah 7 also points to the need to back and support God’s one true Work.

Verses 1-2 begin, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.” Again we see two groups: 1) God’s prophet and those who support him; and 2) God’s people who need this correction.

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place” (verse 3). God is trying to get these people to see how to dwell with Him! He wants to be with His children—if only they would heed this warning and amend their ways. God expands this wonderful promise in verses 5-7: He says if you thoroughly amend your ways, execute justice, care for the needy and avoid idolatry, “Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever”! How loving and merciful is God!

“Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these” (verse 4). The Jews felt very secure because they had God’s temple. It was a false security. We saw the same mistake in the wcg after Mr. Armstrong died. The members felt that as long as they stayed in the Church, they were safe spiritually—even after Satan took over that organization!

If God’s people are going astray, then it is a sin to stay with them. To say otherwise is “lying words”!

Instead of focusing on “God’s Church,” or “the temple,” we should be asking the question in Jeremiah 2:6 and 8: Where is God? We must know the answer!

“Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?” (Jeremiah 7:8-10). Again, this refers to God’s Spirit-begotten people, who alone can “commit adultery” spiritually. Many think they can get away with terrible sins while maintaining a relationship with God.

God is truly giving them a harsh, corrective evaluation. But as always, it is because He loves them and is trying to save them!

“Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord” (verse 11). Those in God’s Church know that Mr. Armstrong called Ambassador Auditorium “God’s house.” God dwelled there in spirit! Those who took over after he died ridiculed that idea, then sold the auditorium for far less than it was worth just to be rid of it. They made off with a whole lot of money! Robbers and thieves! God abhors what they did!

Remember Shiloh

“But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel” (Jeremiah 7:12). God’s people today need to know the significance of Shiloh. Its history is recorded in the portion of the Bible called the “former prophets,” which means it is prophecy for today.

After Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, Shiloh was established as Israel’s first capital where the tabernacle was set up (Joshua 18:1). God set His own name there—but it didn’t stay there! In the 20th century, He established the Worldwide Church of God, and He was with them for over half a century—but then the people turned away.

Later, the Prophet Samuel grew up in Shiloh. At that time, the priesthood was plagued by the corruption of Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. The Israelites took the ark of the covenant into battle because they believed that with the ark in the battlefield, God would give them victory. They had the ark and the tabernacle—but they didn’t have God! The ark was only a symbol of God’s presence, but they had been sinning greatly, so God was not with them.

What happened? Read the history in 1 Samuel 4: In the battle with the Philistines, Israel was defeated, the ark was captured, and Shiloh was destroyed. It still lay in ruins when Jeremiah wrote his prophecy nearly 4½ centuries later.

Psalm 78:59-64 show that God, in His anger at Israel’s sins, “forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men”! He simply left! He is perfect in righteousness, and these people were turning away from Him; He didn’t want to be in the presence of that sin!

What a stark warning. Jeremiah was saying, when God departed from Shiloh because of the people’s evil, what good did the ark do them—even though it represented God’s presence? What good is a temple if God doesn’t dwell in it? What value is God’s Church in this end time if God isn’t there?

Having God’s name is not enough. God must be there too! And if God’s people turn away from Him, He will also turn away from them. If God punished physical Israel, what will He do to spiritual Israel, His Church, today? Even if you have the “house of God,” it can fall into the hands of a traitor, as happened after Mr. Armstrong died.

Departing From God’s Glory

Phinehas’s wife was close to giving birth. When she heard that her husband and father-in-law had been killed and the ark was captured by the Philistines, she went into labor. It was so difficult that she died during the birth, but her son was delivered (1 Samuel 4:19-20).

Before dying, however, “she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken …” (verse 21). Ichabod means “departing from the glory of God.” Israel had lost a considerable number of soldiers. All his life, Ichabod would be a memorial to this ignominious event and the dangerous direction Israel had taken!

This woman uttered a remarkable prophecy. Shiloh had an illustrious history under Joshua, but it came to represent corruption and shame. This woman recognized what had happened, and she pinpointed the problem: God had departed!

Ichabod is our greatest warning today. God’s own people lost the glory of God! This has happened to God’s people in this Laodicean era.

We have such glory in God’s Church! This is real—you can’t even come close to describing it, it’s so wonderful! We must hold on to that glory and never depart from it!

Shiloh Is Coming

After its destruction, Shiloh became a warning. Again, Jeremiah 7:12 says, “But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel” (American Standard Version). Jeremiah was delivering a prophecy for Jerusalem just before its fall—and a prophecy for us today.

Shiloh is also mentioned in the prophecy of Genesis 49 (which verse 1 shows is for the end time, or “the last days”). Verse 10 says, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come ….” This refers to Jesus Christ’s return—but why call the Messiah “Shiloh”? That is peculiar.

By using that name, it seems God puts the Laodiceans’ problem there right alongside the Second Coming of Christ! They had the opportunity to introduce Christ to the world, yet you could say they have marred that spectacular event! But anyone reading this still has a chance to help proclaim Christ’s coming to the world.

Genesis 49:10 is packed with meaning. As I explain in my book The New Throne of David, it describes the uniting of David’s throne with God’s law in this end time. God has given His end-time Church a throne and a king. This points to the future of God’s people as kings and priests of God (e.g. Revelation 1:6; 5:10). It all points directly to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. And in this verse, God connects it all to the great Shiloh.

By using the name Shiloh, God is expressing His disappointment in the Laodiceans. They can talk about God all they want, but they are into the vanity of vanities! They will suffer as no people have ever suffered, and half of them are throwing away their eternal lives!

“And now, since you have committed all these sins—it is [God] who speaks—and have refused to listen when I spoke so urgently, so persistently, or to answer when I called you, I will treat this Temple that bears my name, and in which you put your trust, and the place I have given to you and your ancestors, just as I treated Shiloh. I will drive you out of my sight, as I drove all your kinsmen, the entire race of Ephraim” (Jeremiah 7:13-15; The Jerusalem Bible). God warns that He is going to do to spiritual and physical Israel exactly what He did to Shiloh! He is trying to give us hope and help us avoid a nuclear catastrophe! It is coming, and God wants to save us from it!

You can see how important it is that you find the one Work God is leading and support that with all your effort. You cannot afford to make assumptions about such an urgent, life-and-death matter!

Repent and Get to Work

The correction continues in Jeremiah 4—but note how earnest and hopeful God is that they will accept it and turn back to Him: “‘If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord, ‘Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, “The Lord lives,” In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him they shall glory’” (Jeremiah 4:1-2; nkjv). Put away your abominations, and you will have a glorious future! These are wonderful promises! If God’s people will return to Him, He will bless them and even bless others through them!

“For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings” (verses 3-4). God warns Judah and the other nations of Israel. (Jerusalem is a type of all Israel.) But it too is a message for the unfaithful people of spiritual Israel. Heeding the warning can save people from God’s fiery wrath! Physical circumcision is a type of spiritual conversion. God explicitly commands, not physical circumcision, but circumcision of the heart (see Romans 2:29).

“Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities” (Jeremiah 4:5). When someone repents, this is what God wants that individual to direct his energies toward: the Work!

God commands His people to declare and publish His warning message! He calls us to do a specific work. We must help God’s Work get this message to the world. Declare it—publish it! We must do this Work urgently. We must blow the trumpet because nuclear war is coming on the nations of Israel unless they repent!

Even in the Laodicean era, God has given us the means to accomplish this Work. Times are growing more urgent. We have a lot of work to do and a short window in which to do it. This Work needs more helpers in this crucial time. God prophesies that we will reach 10,000 saints (the correct translation of Deuteronomy 33:2 and Jude 14).

This is why we blow the trumpet. God has established this trumpet-blowing Work. He wants you to be part of it! God has called you to contribute to His Work, to give and serve wherever you can.

“I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way” (Jeremiah 6:27). God is still talking about Zion, His Church. He says, “I have set thee for a tower and a fortress” among Israel. God did this. God has called us to be a tower so we can get an elevated view of all that is happening in the world and warn Israel about His prophecies.

We are a fortress among people in this world. God gives us His truth and His Work to do, and He protects us; we can face any challenge or difficulty if we stay with God in that fortress. But we must obey Him. If we obey God, we have nothing to fear.

But if we fail to obey God, then we are entering into a time when fear will be, by far, the most dominant theme of our lives!

God has promised to protect us individually or nationally if we repent. Everyone should stop his own work now and join God’s Work. May the great God help you to heed this urgent and terrifying message!