NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
This study already dates back many more years than I thought it did. It was written in October 2001 and it is amazing that time has gone by so fast. Still, the truth contained in this study remains unchanged and as valid today as it was when this study was first written as a means of ensuring that the knowledge and understanding of who are the Laodiceans and when the Laodicean Era Church appears would not be lost.
The knowledge of who is the Laodicean Church and of when it would appear has been something that has not been clear for the great majority of those who attended the services of the Worldwide Church of God in the days of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA).
Since the death of Mr. Armstrong and the destruction of the corporate body of God’s Church this has become very evident with there being a great diversity of beliefs about the Laodiceans. Some say, the Laodicean Era started with the death of HWA; others say that all of the false churches of God that have arisen after the death HWA are Laodicean churches except the one which they have adopted as being the continuation of God’s one true Church. There is great confusion on this matter and no lack of individual opinions which unfortunately are not firmly based on the truth God gave His Church through HWA.
This study is wholly based on what HWA taught but which few apparently understood.
I am sharing this study with you as it was written now some 16 years ago and hopefully, it will make clear to those reading it, who are the Laodiceans and when the Laodicean Era of God’s Church will begin.
Last Sabbath (October 20, 2001) we (the author and a few faithfuls) were going through an article by HWA on end-time prophecy called «1975 in Prophecy». In this article, HWA explains the sequence of events to occur leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.
I had always thought that the 5th seal of Revelation which the Church always used to say is the Great Tribulation i.e., the martyrdom of saints was something that was to occur after the events of the 6th seal, the heavenly signs which leads to the apparition of the Laodicean Church. HWA said that :
The Laodicean era of the Church shall rise OUT OF, through and in the latter
part of the Great Tribulation. They shall be IN it, and turn to God out of and during
it (Revelation 7:9-15). They come out of the Great Tribulation and are converted
as a result of it, which will open their eyes to the fact that what the Philadelphia
Church proclaims was true, although now, while we proclaim it, they are not heeding.
(Ref. Letter to Co-Workers 81/01/20)
Since the Laodicean Church only appears in the latter part of the Great Tribulation i.e., after the great martyrdom of saints (the 5th seal events) and following the events of the 6th seal (the Heavenly Signs) and just before the beginning of the Day of the Lord (7th seal) this means that the Laodicean Era Church is not part of the great end-time martyrdom of saints. They are not part of it because at the time when the events of the 5th seal occur, the 7th Era Church has not yet come into being; the conversion of those who will constitute the 7th Era Church is yet future i.e., it occurs only after the events of the 6th seal (the Heavenly Signs) and just before the start of the Day of the Lord (the events of the 7th seal).
The Great Tribulation occurs in two parts; the first is the national captivity of end-time Israel (the physical descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh) and the second is the martyrdom of truly begotten children of God. Mr. Armstrong says :
In Matthew 24:29 you read in your own Bible that the heavenly signs in the sun, moon, and stars would occur immediately after the Great Tribulation. In Revelation 6 you saw with your own eyes that the heavenly signs in the sun and moon of the sixth seal follow immediately AFTER the Great Tribulation, or the martyrdom of saints, of the fifth seal. Also you saw there, that following these heavenly signs of the sixth seal was to come the terrible day of God’s WRATH.
(Ref. Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last)
This makes it clear that the Laodiceans are not in the Great Tribulation because at the time when the conversion of the individuals that will make up God’s last Era Church occurs, the Great Tribulation (the 5th seal) is already over. HWA says that only in the Book of Revelation do we find the prophecies correlated in time order of their actual occurrence; so there is no great martyrdom to occur of the Laodiceans. This Church is to last between the 6th seal and the 7th trumpet of the 7th seal; only a short time.
Mr. Armstrong says that :
The sixth seal, we have seen, will mark the beginning of
the intervention of God in world affairs–the terrifying signs in the
heavens–and then men shall cry out, “The terrible day of God’s WRATH
is come!”
(Ref. Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last)
And to really make it clear beyond all doubt Mr. Armstrong adds: (from page 34 of The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last):
Who Are the 144,000?
You have probably heard many interpretations. They are all in
error. Men are unable to interpret this prophecy. The first thing to
notice is that the TIME of the sealing of this 144,000 is yet in the
future–it is after the Great Tribulation and the heavenly SIGNS, and
just before the plagues of God’s Judgments! It has not happened yet!
Second, this prophecy is plain, and means just what it says–
144,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel–12,000 of each tribe. Where are
they today? Where are the lost ten tribes?
But these 144,000 are not all! “After this I beheld, and, lo, a
great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands… And
one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are
arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him,
Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 13-14).
And what is sealed in the foreheads? They are sealed by the Holy
Spirit, in their foreheads. If you will turn to chapter 14:1, you will
see that it is the Father’s name that is written there. Jesus’ very
last prayer for His Church was that they would be kept in the FATHER’S
name. Today we find the churches of this world under every possible
manmade name; many named after men. But 12 times in the New Testament
His own Church is the Church OF God–yes, God’s Church.
Who Constitute the Innumerable Multitude?
Now how about this innumerable multitude? They have come through
THE Great Tribulation. God will not send His frightful PLAGUES to
punish the world (NOT end-time Israel who already has disappeared as
a nation), until He has first sent a great supernatural
warning. God has warned the world through all His prophets–through
His Son, Jesus Christ–He is warning the world right now through this
very work. But God is a God of mercy and compassion. He will yet warn
this world once again—by supernatural signs, in the sun, the moon,
and the stars. God will leave men no excuse.
And after the Great Tribulation, when men are seized with stark
terror at these supernatural heavenly signs, multiplied thousands will
at last recognize that it is really God warning them! Yes, multiplied
thousands who now hear this warning from God will not heed it now.
They are deceived. They still believe and follow their various human
leaders, or groups. Their minds are not fully opened to recognize this
as God’s last warning to this world! They are not repenting or turning
to God, now! Oh, how well I know that! But when they see these things
actually occur which they heard from no others–when they have seen
how the world was deceived and misled about the Great Tribulation, and
they have gone through it–when they see these terrifying supernatural
SIGNS in the heavens, then, at last, hundreds of thousands of them —
perhaps even some of you–will at last recognize the TRUTH, and at
last turn to God in complete submission, fully repenting, and coming
through Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world! We of this ministry
well know that our real reward in the harvest of precious lives will
mostly come after our labors are finished!
(Ref. Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last)
What is becoming apparent here is that there is a progression in how God will deal with humans in the end. First, He will deal with end-time Israel, then He will turn His attention to all the non-Israelitish nations. First, the Gospel was preached to end-time Israel; then, it was preached to the world (1972). The same pattern was followed in the first century Church with the Gospel first being preached to Israel and Judah (Israel was then divided into two kingdoms) by the apostles and then to the Gentile nations by Paul. The very same pattern is followed in the end time. What is interesting to note here is that God’s Laodicean Era Church will come mostly from the Gentile nations; they are the innumerable multitude. Israel will have 144,000 converted.
Then Mr. Armstrong had this to say about the Laodicean Era Church :
Continue this prophecy. Next, when our Great Commission is in God’s sight
completed, we are to be taken–symbolically flown on the two wings of a great eagle
–which could mean by a friendly government made friendly to us by my contacts with heads of so many governments these past 12 years–we shall be taken to a place of protection from the Great Tribulation, which in itself is the furious wrath of a mad and infuriated Satan (verse 14). While we are in this place of safety three and a half years, the two witnesses shall be preaching to the whole world, protected from Satan. But Satan in his mad wrath will then make war with the REMNANT Church. [This can’t be the Laodicean Church as it has not then yet appeared. The remnant church at this point in time can only be those of national, physical Israel who repent during the Great Tribulation and are martyred by the Beast Power at the behest of the Great False Church of Revelation 17. This is end-time physical Israel in captivity during which time many who had not heeded God’s warning given through Mr. Armstrong, repent and die as martyrs.]
Finally, what of the Laodicean era of God’s Church? Remember, it, too, is GOD’s
Church–having the commandments of God and Testimony or Word of Jesus (Revelation
12:17).
But that era of the Church is pictured in Matthew 25. Matthew 24 shows the
sign Jesus gave prior to his coming to end the present world order, and the Great
Tribulation, Day of the Lord and Second Coming.
Matthew 25 shows the time just before Christ will return. It pictures the Laodicean
Church as 10 virgins who took their lamps [their Bibles] and went forth to meet Christ
at His coming. But five of them–half of the Church–took their lamps [Bibles] but
without extra oil to light their lamps [having the Holy Spirit to enlighten their minds to UNDERSTAND the Bible]. Some translations render this into English indicating they were losing the Holy Spirit, because of negligence, lack of prayer, fellowship with the brethren and with God and Christ and being overcome with materialistic and worldly interest.
Are some of us like that, even now? They all had oil but 50% took no extra oil with their lamps as the others had done.
While they–the backsliding half of the Church–were trying to get back closer
to God, the coming of Christ shall take place, and the door into God’s Kingdom will
be SHUT in their faces! WHAT A TERRIBLE AND AWFUL TRAGEDY! It could happen
to you or me.
(Ref. Letter to Co-Workers 81/01/20)
According to HWA, half of the members of the Laodicean Church which arises out of the Great Tribulation [they are not killed and are not part of the 5th seal Great Martyrdom of Saints because they were not then converted; their conversion occurs only after the events of the 6th seal] lose their salvation because they drift back to the life they knew before their conversion and as a result are losing or no longer have enough of God’s Holy Spirit to correctly understand their Bibles.
Mr. Armstrong says in lesson 3 of the AC BCC 32 lessons that :
Obviously, then, the “saints”–true Christians of God’s Church–will be
on the earth during the Great Tribulation–not up in heaven as proponents
of the rapture theory believe! But Christ promises the “saints” a place of
safety–on this earth. Take note, however, that not every Christian will
have qualified himself for this protection, and many will have to go
through that Tribulation.
(Ref. Lesson 3 AC BCC 32)
They would then be some of the true saints that are martyred by the Beast power during the Great Tribulation as the conversion of the Laodicean saints does not occur until the latter end of the Great Tribulation. These are saints who are presently part of God’s Church and who are neglecting their Christian lives. As a result, they will not be found worthy to escape the Great Tribulation when it comes. These are Philadelphia Era saints who will be in the Great Tribulation.
But they are only a small part of the saints that will be martyred during the Great Tribulation or the events of the 5th seal. Mr. Armstrong has often said that people will not heed the warning message that he is preaching but they will remember it in the tribulation :
World War Resumed!
All this is now only a few years off. WHEN we are stricken with the greatest national tragedy ever to befall a nation — people dying in nearly every home — your loved ones — perhaps your children, or your parents, and scores of your close friends — perhaps even YOURSELF dying in this calamity, and the nation’s economic prosperity suddenly tail-spinning into its lowest ebb of depression, then the Nazi-Fascist colossus will strike its hydrogen-bomb blows — and another third of our populations will be killed — our major cities and industrial centers destroyed.
Only one in three of your friends — of your loved ones — will remain alive — UNLESS they heed the warning and come under God’s divine protection according to HIS conditions!
And remember! Every individual will then stand on his own feet before God. YOU cannot secure the protection of your loved ones. Nor can the prayers, the godliness or righteousness of any friend or loved one save you. Each individual must come to real repentance, total and unconditional surrender to GOD’S will, and His Word and its authority, through Christ as personal Saviour, in order to have the proffered divine protection from these impending catastrophes. See Ezek. 14:12-14; and Jer. 31:29-30.
I know this is not pleasant to contemplate! I know well, too, that it won’t be believed by more than a few. I know only too well that our proud and stiff-necked nations will heedlessly refuse to take WARNING! But also I know that these prophecies are as certain as tomorrow’s sun — unless our nations do heed God’s warnings, repent and turn from their established ways and customs and return to ALMIGHTY GOD and HIS LAWS and WAYS!
And, knowing that such an unbelievable catastrophe is soon to strike, I HAVE TO WARN YOU!! You can read what God says to me in Ezekiel 33:1-6. THINK OF IT! Unbelievable? Preposterous? No, IT’S REAL — very soon, — of this very present generation — of all people you know now — ONLY ONE THIRD of them will be left alive!
Americans — Britons — Made SLAVES And that surviving third will be uprooted from their homes — transported like cattle as slaves to Europe, and probably some to South America (the Germans are fast gaining dominance and control in South America).
There they shall not only be forced under lashes of cruel taskmasters to do the work of slaves — but they will be forced to give up whatever belief they may have in real BIBLE Christianity! They will be literally forced to accept the idolatrous PAGAN beliefs and customs that masquerade as Christianity, or state police will arrest them, and they will be TORTURED inhumanly until they either give in, or die in martyrdom!
Yes, millions of lukewarm inactive professing Christians will suffer MARTYRDOM — and that before the anticipated push-button leisure-year of 1975 dawns upon us! You’ll read of this martyrdom — the Great Tribulation — in Mat. 24:9-10, 21-22; Rev. 17:6; 6:9-11; 12:11, and in many other verses. [professing Christians are members of the deceived Christianity of today who will repent during the GT, be converted to true Christianity and die martyred. these will also be Philadelphians in the Great Tribulation as the time of their conversion is during the Philadelphia Era; the Laodicean Era has not then yet started.]
PHOTO CAPTION:
A rally of unemployed at Madison Square Park in New York. The sign above speaker’s stand proclaims “Jobs for all — at decent pay.” This typical scene will soon become wide spread throughout western world. Economic ruin is coming!
PHOTO CAPTION:
The first beginnings of the new German Luftwaffe. German pilots and their American flight instructors head for their planes at Landsberg, southern Germany.
PHOTO CAPTION:
West German soldiers march to firing range carrying various American-made weapons and wearing American uniforms.
This coming Great Tribulation is not the Wrath of God upon the world’s wicked — it is the wrath of Satan the devil upon Christians, and upon the democratic nations (Rev. 12:12-13). Millions of repenting SAINTS [were in the world but became converted only during GT remembering HWA’s preaching which they had not heeded up to that time] will be IN it, and the very objects of it — because it is for their sake that God will intervene to CUT SHORT that hellish time of torture (Matt. 24:22). [These are the Philadelphian era saints in the Great Tribulation; those of God’s Church who were lukewarm and were not taken to the place of safety and the professing Christians of this world who convert during the Great Tribulation.] This, I well know, is not the popular orthodox teaching of a “Christianity” that is a part of THIS WORLD and has LOST the PURPOSE and the PLAN of God. But this is GOD’S TRUTH, straight and direct to YOU!
This [the Great Tribulation] is the impending time of SUPREME TROUBLE for Americans and Britons, and for all true Christians [these are Philadelphia era Christians as the Laodicean era only starts after the events of the 6th seal] who are not watching, praying constantly and so yielded to God’s Will that they shall be accounted worthy to ESCAPE it all (Luke 21:36; Rev. 12:14)
(Ref. 1975 in Prophecy)
This excerpt makes it clear that there are two categories of individuals that will go through the Great Tribulation : first, those saints of God’s Philadelphia Era who are neglecting their Christian duties and secondly, the millions of Americans and Britons who have heard Mr. Armstrong giving them God’s Ezekiel warning and who refused to heed it. This last group will repent while in captivity where they will remember the warning that had been given out and become converted after having seen these events come to pass. They repent, believe and receive God’s Holy Spirit. In captivity they will be under the dominance of the Beast Power controlled by the Great Whore of Revelation 17 and will be forced under torture to renounce their true Bible belief [whatever true Bible knowledge they have] and if they refuse to do so, lose their lives. This is the great martyrdom of saints that will constitute the Great Tribulation. The ante-type is always greater in fulfillment than the type. The type of the end-time martyrdom of saints by the Great Whore is the persecution and martyrdom of saints which lasted 1260 years. The ante-type in the end-time is a martyrdom of saints under the Great Whore which lasts 1260 days or 31/2 years. Millions were killed in the type and in the ante-type, an even greater number of saints will be killed. Mr. Armstrong says that during the great persecution that lasted 1260 years, over 50 million true and false Christians were killed.
This is new understanding which completely changes our previous comprehension of how end-time events were to occur. It was always thought that it was the Laodiceans who were to be in the Great Tribulation. This comes from the false teachings we have been exposed to from end-of-the-WCG ministers and the false churches of God that sprang up after HWA’s death; especially Gerald Flurry. This makes it clear that they will not even be in it. In fact, God’s Laodicean church will be made up of individuals who come out of the Great Tribulation and who, while in it, had not then yet repented. Their conversion occurs only at the time of the events of the 6th seal which take place after the Great Tribulation which are the events of the 5th seal. This is the cry that went out at midnight that the Bridegroom is coming; the 6th seal event is the sign of the imminent personal return of Christ.
Therefore those who will be in the Great Tribulation are Philadelphian Era saints who are not praying always and watching so as to be found worthy to escape; they are not taken to a place of safety with the rest of the Philadelphians. And the others will be American and Britons who will be the 1/3 surviving the famine and the pestilence and the nuclear attack who will be taken captive by the Beast Power’s armies, transported to Europe and South America and made slaves. Upon their conversion during the GT they become Philadelphia era saints too; the Laodicean era of God’s church starting only after the Great Tribulation i.e., after the events of the 6th seal; the GT are the events of the 5th seal.
The Philadelphia Era therefore continues until the 6th seal as it is only at that time that the Laodicean Era Church appears. And as Mr. Armstrong says on tape, this era is to last but a short time and indeed it will. That would be between the time of their conversion during the 6th seal and the Second Coming of Christ at the 7th trumpet of the 7th seal. HWA says that the events of the Day of the Lord would last about a year and the the events of the 7th trumpet, the pouring out of the vial plagues would last an approximate 24 hour time period.
Therefore it is true as HWA often said that the greatest fruit of his labour would be in the future i.e., during the Great Tribulation when millions will be converted and be martyred by the Beast Power under the direction of the Great Whore. The Philadelphia Era has a great number of saints but who appear only during the Great Tribulation. They have to give up their lives because they did not heed God’s warning when it was given to them before the Great Tribulation. Not having heeded it, they must now go through the Great Tribulation and be martyred.
All of this matches up perfectly with everything Mr. Armstrong has ever taught. We had just never been given to understand it until now. It is doubtlessly a gift from God to us who are keeping the patience of His word when everybody else has gone their own ways. God is encouraging us to continue and is showing that He is among us though we continue to struggle against much sin that is in our lives; are not letting ourselves be discouraged and are calling on Him for the help we need to keep going when we feel overwhelmed. It is at once very humbling and very encouraging to realize God is with us though we still are sinners. We have wonderful truth in these little clay pots which are our temporary bodies given us while we live out our lives whose purpose it is once called to resist Satan, yield to God and in this way allow God to build in us His Perfect, Holy, Righteous Character.
References
All are available from: http://www.herbert-armstrong.org/ and http://www.herbert-w-armstrong.com/
The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last
1975 in Prophecy
Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course Lesson 3
Letter to Co-Workers 81/01/20
How to Keep the Sabbath (HWA Voice Recording)
Revelation 12 (HWA Voice Recording)
Overview of Prophecy (HWA Voice Recording)
God's Spiritual Nation 