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Are YouBeing
Called?
1
THE RESTORED CHURCH OF GOD
Consider! In 1920, when my fatherwas born, there were about 2 billionpeople on earth. There are now about6.7 billion—and more every day.Approximately 2.2 billion, or one-third,believe—to one degree or another—inthe name of Jesus Christ. This repre-sents a total that includes every conceiv-able brand of the over 2,000
different  forms
of professing Christianity.Approximately another one-third of mankind has
heard 
of Christ but has notaccepted Him and does not
claim
to fol-low Him. Finally, the last one-third of all people on earth know nothing aboutChrist. Many in India, Africa, Japan,China and parts of South America andSoutheast Asia have never even heard of Him. Are they condemned to be lost,having never had an opportunity tounderstand what they missed or why—having no opportunity to be “called”?When speaking of Christ’s name,the Bible plainly says, “Neither is theresalvation in any other: for there is
noneother name under heaven
given amongmen, whereby we must be
saved 
” (Acts4:12). Further, Romans 10:13 states thatmen must call on
this name
to be saved.Understand! It is obvious that all whohave not yielded to the God of the Bibleand accepted Jesus Christ as theirSavior are certainly
not 
saved!Countless billions have died in this con-dition. Most have assumed that the onlyother option for these is that they werelost to salvation and that God long agoplanned this for the vast majority whohave ever lived.If the war to win souls is as mostsupposed Christian ministers depict it,then the devil is much stronger, andmuch more effective, in his effort thanGod is. This is the only other possibili-ty—unless there is a third category con-taining the vast majority of people. Butit must be a category that has not beenrecognized. There is!—God is simplynot calling the masses of humanitytoday.But He
is
calling a select few!
Called and Chosen of God
The Bible plainly speaks of those whohave been called by God. Notice whatPaul said to the Thessalonian brethren:“Faithful is He [God] that
calls
you...”(I Thes. 5:24). As a warning to theGalatian congregation, who were losingsight of the true gospel, he said this: “Imarvel that you are so soon removedfrom Him that
called 
you into the graceof Christ unto another gospel” (1:6),and later added, “This persuasioncomes not of Him that
calls
you” (5:7-8). To the Corinthian congregation hewrote, “For you see your
calling
brethren, how that not many wise menafter the flesh, not many mighty, notmany noble, are
called 
” (I Cor. 1:26).Christ Himself spoke on manyoccasions about the Christian calling.You may be familiar with His state-ment, “For many are
called 
, but feware chosen,” found in both Matthew22:14 and 20:16. Later, adding mean-ing to the second part of this phrase, Heexplained this to His disciples: “Youhave not chosen Me but I have
chosen
you” (John 15:16), and then “But Ihave
chosen
you out of the world,therefore the world hates you” (vs. 19).When placed together, these pas-sages explain that God is calling a fewpeople—actually a
very
few—out of the world for His supreme purpose.Those who respond to His calling arethen “chosen,” going on to repentance,baptism and conversion.
What About You?
After reading some of the literaturefrom The Restored Church of God,many come to recognize that they havebeen brought into contact with extraor-
Many wonder if they are being called of God. Howcan you know? Are feelings sufficient on such avital matter? What
is
a calling? What does God’sWord say? You need to know.
BY DAVID C.PACK
M
OSTBELIEVETHAT
Godis trying to save theworld now! This think-ing goes something like this: Godand the devil are at war over thefate of mankind. This is seen as adesperate struggle between goodand evil—God and Satan.
Let’s put this another way: Istoday the only opportunity for allhuman beings to choose or to rejectChristianity? Must all people“decide now” to accept Jesus asLord and Savior? Is this what theBible teaches? The answer is anemphatic NO! If it were
 yes,
thenGod is failing miserably in His bat-tle with the devil for control over thefate of all men. In other words, Godis “calling” all of mankind, but mostare
NOTANSWERING
!
 
2
THE RESTORED CHURCH OF GOD
dinary understanding. They find them-selves learning things that they havenever heard before. They notice that theBible makes sense—that it is not as hardto understand as they had previouslythought. Then, feeling a growing needto
act 
on what they are learning, manywonder, “Am
 I 
being called by God?”Sometimes this question takes theform of “Am I undergoing ‘conver-sion’?” or “Should I get baptized?” oreven “Have I come in contact withGod’s true Church?” At best, most areunsure of how to
answer 
these basicquestions, and many have absolutely noidea whatsoever how to even properly
address
them.This brief article will make plain,from God’s Word, how to know if Godis calling you. I intend to keep it simple,virtually impossible to misunderstand.After all, this question is one of the mostimportant you will ever face. Properlyunderstanding its answer is of 
PARA
-
MOUNTIMPORTANCE
to your life!I first began learning God’s truthwhen I was 17 years old. Before Godcalled me, I had not known a single oneof the true doctrines of the Bible. Thecalling process for me began when Iheard the voice of a man namedHerbert W. Armstrong, being broadcastfrom Pasadena, California. This was1966, and it was immediately evidentto me that I was hearing things fromthis man that I had NEVER heardbefore—and with plain scriptural
PROOFS
to back them up. I rememberbeing astonished at how clear the Biblebecame—and how much fun it was tostudy. Prior to this—throughout thetime I attended the well-known,respected denomination of my youth—I had always found the Bible boringand hard to understand.Actually, people of all ages andbackgrounds puzzle over just what a“calling” is. Many reduce it to littlemore than a particular
 feeling
thatcomes over them, which they attributeto God. Millions in the world feel“called”—in some cases to the“church,” in other cases to the “min-istry,” or “missionary work,” in stillother cases to work with children, and inyet others to serve in the medical pro-fession or even in the military. Ignorantof what God says, so many people areleft to rely on mere
 feelings
, assumingthat their lives—and the paths theychoose—are divinely inspired. Theyattribute this “inspiration” to beingcalled of God. Sadly, most never learnthat these “callings” have nothing to dowith following the true God of theBible.Atrue calling from God is far morethan a kind of abstract
 feeling
thathuman reasoning concludes is fromGod!
Defining a True Calling
In John’s gospel account, Jesus stated,“No man can come to Me, except theFather which has sent Me
draw
him...”(6:44). Nineteen verses later, He repeat-ed to His audience, “Therefore said Iunto you, that no man can come untoMe, except it were
given
unto him of MyFather” (vs. 65). In the next verse, Johnrecords that “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked nomore with Him.”Many who heard Christ simply couldnot understand that God has to “draw”people and that a calling is somethingthat is “given” to them. While manytoday appear to understand that theymust in some fashion be called, they donot seek to understand—from theBible—how to know for certain that it isGod who is calling—drawing—givingto them whatever it is they are to receive.Let’s consider a few scriptures thatmake plain what it is Christians are“given” when they are called. We mustclear up all possible confusion.In Matthew, Christ’s disciples asked,“Why speak you unto them [the multi-tudes who heard Him] in parables?”(13:10). His answer summarizes howand with what God calls: “He answeredand said unto them, Because it is
given
unto you to
know the mysteries of thekingdom
of heaven [or kingdom of God], but to them it is
not given
” (vs.11). The next several verses amplifywhat He meant, explaining how many inthe world can hear the truths of God (the“mysteries of the kingdom”) but notgrasp them. Since the overwhelmingmajority of mankind is not being drawnby the power of God’s Spirit, they havenot been given the ability to comprehendGod’s Word.How does this apply to you? Theanswer directly explains how to know if God is calling you: Acalling, in the sim-plest terms, is understanding the truthsof God when you see, read or hear them.Ask yourself: “Do I understand Bibleteachings and truths when I hear them?Do the scriptures about the gospel of thekingdom of God; the plan of salvationand the purpose of human existence; cli-mactic, soon-coming prophesied events;God’s warning message to His people;His Law—including the Sabbath com-mand—the Holy Days; tithing; cleanand unclean meats; the one true Church;and many other teachings make sense tome?”When you read or hear these thingsin our magazines, books, booklets, arti-cles and
The WORLD TO COME 
pro-grams, do they have meaning to you?Are you grasping them? Are they
PLAIN
to your understanding? Do you see themas
SPECIALKNOWLEDGE
others do nothave? Do you feel tempted to pinchyourself in disbelief that you could beshown things of which the masses haveno idea?If the answers to these questions are“yes,” then God
is
calling—“draw-ing”—you! The mysteries of the king-dom of God
are
being given to
YOU
!
Responsible for Knowledge Given
Babies are born knowing nothing. Theydo not know even the basics of right andwrong. They have to be taught virtually
everything
. Similarly, the world doesnot know the things of God—
spiritual
right from
spiritual
wrong. But with theknowledge of these things comes theresponsibility to act on
them
.Two Bible passages demonstrate thatGod holds people accountable for whatthey understand. Notice James 4:17:“Therefore to him that
KNOWSTODOGOOD
, and does it not, to him it is sin.”Now read Hebrews 10:26: “For if wesin willfully after that we have receivedthe
KNOWLEDGEOFTHETRUTH
, thereremains no more sacrifice for sins.”Let’s understand. Each time youlearn more of God’s truth (what is
 
“good”), and it makes sense to you—you at least generally understand it—you are being
given
extraordinary spiri-tual
knowledge
for which God holdsyou accountable.This is part of the calling process—and is actually central to it. Further, itmakes understanding how God callsone much more serious than most havebelieved. Recognize that God will onlycall each human being once. Therefore,you are responsible
now
for the knowl-edge that you are being given. If onedoes
not 
act on what he is learning, Godwill take that understanding away(Rom. 2:13; Psa. 111:10), and such aperson is in a grave spiritual condition.
The Greatest Freedom
God’s truth is most exciting to under-stand. It is the path to all the wonderful,good things in life—things God wantsyou to have. It is also the path to thegreatest
 freedom
that there is! Christ toldcertain Jews professing to believe onHim: “If you continue in My word [thetruth – John 17:17], then are you Mydisciples indeed; and you shall
know thetruth
, and
THETRUTHSHALLMAKEYOUFREE
” (John 8:31-32). You must be will-ing to “continue” in your studies of God’s Word, learning ever more of Histruth, which Christ explains will “set youfree” from a world cut off from God andheld captive by Satan. Even
this
under-standing is precious knowledge.Your associates in the world proba-bly understand none of these things.Neither do your relatives. Without God’scalling, they have no possible way of enjoying
now
what is being offered to
YOU
—
if 
you are understanding
and 
act-ing upon God’s truth.It is also vital that you make certainin your mind the things you are learning.You should find yourself wanting to
PROVE
the doctrines of God. Paul alsotold the Thessalonians to “
PROVE
allthings; hold fast that which is good” (IThes. 5:21). If you know God is callingyou, take time to
 prove
that He exists.Then prove that the Bible is truly Hisinspired Word for mankind.Finally,
 prove
the identity of God’sChurch. Remove all doubt, leaving noroom for confusion. There are manycounterfeit churches—many spiritual“look-alikes” in the world. Do not befooled by any of them. Christ promised,“I will build
 My
Church” (Matt. 16:18).Determine to know for certain if youhave come in contact with it. (I urge youto read our booklet
Where is God’sTRUE CHURCH?
and our book 
The History of God’s TRUECHURCH 
.)At the same time you are provingthese things, pray fervently about whatyou are learning. When you are unclearon a matter, remember that Christ taught,“
 Ask 
, and it shall be given you;
seek 
, andyou shall find;
knock 
, and it shall beopened unto you” (Matt. 7:7).John 14:17 explains how thosecoming toward conversion begin tofind that they can see clearly the thingsof God. Notice what Christ said whenspeaking to His disciples about theHoly Spirit they were soon to receive:“Even the Spirit of truth; [which] theworld cannot receive, because it sees[it] not, neither knows [it]: but youknow [it]; for [it] dwells
with
you, andshall be
in
you.”At this point, the disciples weremuch like many today—perhaps likeyou, too. They were seeing many spiri-tual truths in part, but did not yet
 fully
grasp the enormous importance of learn-ing God’s Plan and way of life. Throughthe Holy Spirit working
with
them, Godwas revealing certain things that theywould only understand in a greater wayonce it was
in
them, beginning at con-version. Ultimately, to fully understandall the things of God—
all
the mysteriesof the kingdom of God—one must bebegotten of the Holy Spirit. This occurswhen it enters directly into the mind!Lacking baptism and the vital receivingof God’s Spirit, it is completely impossi-ble for
anyone
to truly understand even asingle biblical truth!Before discussing how this happens,let’s look at the big picture.
God’s Master Plan
There is a great reason that God is call-ing only a few now.The core of God’s Plan encompass-es 7,000 years. Few have understoodthis. Many
have
correctly understood atleast some of the verses describingChrist’s 1,000-year reign, which willbegin at the time of His Return to earthin great power and glory to rule with thesaints (Rev. 20:4-6). And while mostknow little more than this, they know
nothing
of the fact that God has allotted6,000 years, or six millennial days of a“seven-day week,” to man’s rule, priorto the seventh 1,000-year “day.” Thesixth “day” is about to draw to a close.Satan is soon to be bound (Rev. 20:2).However, he has
notyet 
been bound.When Christ, having overcome sin,qualified to replace him (Matt. 4:1-11;Luke 4:1-13) as the “god of this world,”He assured that Satan will soon nolonger be present to deceive and con-fuse mankind (I Cor. 14:33). But, onceagain, we must understand that Satanhas not
 yet 
been bound and he seeks todo everything, within the power that hedoes possess, continually striving tothwart God’s plan. He has certainlydeceived his ministers (II Cor. 11:13-15) into believing that God has failedterribly in His plan to save the vastmajority of a mankind that He is not yeteven calling to salvation. But it is onlyby God’s permission that Satan holdssway over this “present evil world”(Gal. 1:4).God is not losing any supposedwrestling match over which He wouldclearly have complete control. Heknows exactly what He is doing, andthe beauty of His plan
can
be known.Be assured that no true God would everchoose to condemn the vast majoritywho have ever lived without givingthem a
 full opportunity
for salvation.Such a God would not be worth follow-ing. He would be an unjust monsterwhose primary purpose is the businessof 
condemnation
!We must understand! The Biblesays, “But, beloved,
be not ignorant 
of this one thing, that
one day
is with theLord
asa thousand years
, and a thou-sand years as one day” (II Pet. 3:8). Of course, most people
are
“ignorant” of not just this “one thing,” but almosteverything that the Bible teaches.Yet, this is a fascinating verse.Man has been given six days, or6,000 years, to try his own ways, gov-ernments, religions, philosophies, value
3
ARE YOU BEING
CALLED? 
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