The Color GUARD

As we come upon another PENTECOST I was beginning to wonder if THIS particular Feast is BECOMING the most Enigmatic of all the Holy Days. This is a HOLY DAY SPECIFICALLY for the Church and it deals with its PURPOSE. Yet when you LOOK AROUND in the various Churches of God, you see a GENERAL LACK of UNDERSTANDING, LACK OF DIRECTION LACK OF PURPOSE. When you NEED ANSWERS to solve such problems you can appeal to MANS WISDOM, or you can go to God to find an ANSWER. So I was pondering WHAT would God do, AND what has God DONE BEFORE?

There was a time back in Ancient Israel that is somewhat glossed over, it makes a NICE STORY. But IF we BETTER examine this story it BECOMES the ANSWER we NEED RIGHT NOW. It is the STORY for THIS TIME PERIOD. In Numbers 21:4-9 the People ONCE AGAIN had SPOKEN AGAINST God AND HIS SERVANT. At THIS TIME His Servant was Moses. They had NO FOOD, NO WATER, and they LOATHED the Food God was GIVING. Soooo, WHAT is going on in the Church today?? We have SPOKEN AGAINST God AND HIS SERVANT, at this time it was Herbert W. Armstrong. We have NO FOOD, NO WATER, and we LOATHE the Food given to us by His Servant Mr. Armstrong. Sounds kind of FAMILIAR doesnt it??? What happened NEXT? The Lord sent FIERY SERPENTS among the people so that MANY of the people DIED! Again this is familiar; LOOK AROUND YOU, ARE NOT FIERY SERPENTS RUNNING THROUGH THE CHURCH?? And MANY in the Church are DIEING SPIRITUALLY.

NOW NOTICE, who did the people turn to?

The People TURNED to the SERVANT of the Lord and ASKED HIM to intercede. They asked the SERVANT of the Lord to REMOVE the Serpents, and they CONFESSED the REASON it happened in the FIRST PLACE. NOTE, by & large this is NOT NOW what is going on in the Church as a WHOLE. It is in SMALL corners and in individual families, but NOT as a WHOLE.

NOW NOTICE what the Lord has Moses DO:

Make a fiery serpent and SET IN ON A STANDARD, and it shall come to pass that EVERYONE who is bitten WHEN HE LOOKS AT IT, HE SHALL LIVE. Moses RAISED UP A STANDARD, and when people TURNED TO IT, they LIVED. There is some GREAT OVERLOOKED meaning in this as Jesus POINTS US BACK TO IT in John 3:14. And we ALSO see what HAPPENED to it LATTER as Israel began to WORSHIP it AS A GOD. So HERE WE HAVE the Fiery Serpent STANDARD talked about THREE times in Gods word, yet it is LITTLE understood as a mere Story. I think PART of that is because we do NOT understand what a STANDARD is, and how it can be USED or ABUSED. So MY PURPOSE today is to POINT OUT THE STANDRD, and DEFEND IT which actually is WHEN YOU SEE IT is our PURPOSE AT THIS MOMENT in Church history.

THE FEIRY SERPENTS:

The Church has SPOKEN AGAINST God and His SERVANT, and they LOATHE the Food he has given us. Now MANY will DENY that FACT. To THEM I ask; then HOW do you explain all these Serpents running about?? You see, THOSE people SEE THE EVIDENCE of the problem, but come to the WRONG CONCLUSION, WRONG ANSWER to WHY the Serpents are here. MANY if not MOST of the Church of God has been bitten by these Serpents. THE POISON IS THERE. There was ONLY ONE STANDARD lifted up in the wilderness, AS THERE IS TODAY. Yet the people are RUNNING TO MEN to find a SOLUTION, or an ANTIDOTE, and they are DIEING.

LETS EXAMINE STANDARDS, WHAT IS A STANDARD?

First of all let us DEFINE what a STANDARD is. The TYPE of STANDARD Moses RAISED UP has become UN-familiar to our MODERN Era, but was QUITE RECOGNIZABLE in Ancient times. A STANDARD was a PHYSICAL REPRESENTATION of a Government or organized entity such as a military unit. When we LOOK at a STANDARD; Its NOT the STANDARD, Its NOT the MAN holding the STANDARD its the GOVERNMENT BEHIND THE STANDARD that we are LOOKING AT!! How can we NOT SEE that?? Maybe its those Fiery Serpents that have got us all confused?

In Roman times EACH LEGION had its STANDARD. Not only was it a REPRESENTATION of Rome, but it ALSO was WORSHIPED AS A GOD. The STANDARD was THE GOD of that particular LEGION. Sounds FAMILIAR doesnt it, to what Israel started doing LATER. STANDARDS are supposed to REPRESENT the Entity BEHIND the STANDARD, but they OFTEN become WORSHIPED, and we FORGET the ENTITY that it is supposed to represent. These STANDARDS PROTECTED the Legions in battle. And it was a TERRIBLE SHAME, even a DISGRACE to have one FALL or be captured by the enemy. Defeats in Rome were judged in a way as to HOW MANY STANDARDS were LOST or CAPTURED. Augustus Caesar lost THREE STANDARDS in the Totenberg Forrest and getting them BACK became an OBBSESION. Hannibal took SEVEN from Rome, one of the reasons he became an object of FEAR to the Romans. Crassus lost TEN to the Parthians, and its a GOOD thing he died in battle, because he NEVER would have lived that one down. The LAST public use of the TYPE of STANDARDS that Rome used was Nazi Germany. It was Ancient Rome resurrected in MORE ways than one. Today we dont use that TYPE of STANDARD; we use an ENSIGN. An ENSIGN is commonly known as a FLAG. Although the TYPE has CHANGED MUCH if not MOST of the MEANING has NOT. How a person TREATS the FLAG is emblematic to what one THINKS of the country REPRESENTED. The FLAG is NOT the Country, but the FLAG REPRESENTS the Country. You can NOT DIS-respect the FLAG and say you STILL HONOR the country. You can NOT REJECT the STANDARD yet say you VALUE the Country. You can NOT REFUSE to LOOK at the STANDARD and EXPECT to live!! Now there is MORE to the PURPOSE OF A FLAG than just a ceremonial representation. A FLAG GIVES DIRECTION INTO HOW TO MOVE, WHERE TO LOOK, MARCHING DIRECTION. This was the PURPOSE of the STANDARD in the wilderness that Moses lifted up. When the Children of Israel were afflicted by Fiery Serpents the SOLUTION WAS SIMPLY; LOOK TO GOD whose REPRESENTATION is being HELD UP by His SERVANT. This is what the Church is NOT DOING. Though Herbert W. Armstrong is now dead, when he died what he GAVE us became SEALED as FOUNDATIONAL. The WORDS that Herbert Armstrong gave us WERE SEALED as THE STANDARD, the ENSIGN the FLAG. They give us MARCHING DIRECTION, in the heat of battle it SHOWS where Gods army is.

In more MODERN times FLAGS were QUITE important for ARMY GUIDANCE. With the advent of gun powder used in battle it became QUITE difficult next to impossible to issue orders VERBALY to the Army. Although FLAGS, Trumpets and Drums have always been used, FLAGS saw their GREATEST use in the early modern era when the Battlefields became LARGER, and LOUDER. Just as in the time of Moses you LOOKED to the STANDARD FOR GUIDANCE, it told you WHERE the Army would be moving, advancing or retreating. With the ADVENT of its NEW IMPORTANCE a FLAG became MUCH MORE of a TARGET for the Enemy other than SYMBOLIC. IF you could STOP a FLAG you could STOP an Army. The FLAG/STANDARD became a PRIME TARGET!

In order to COUNTER this a NEW UNIT was designated; The COLOR GUARD.
The FLAG was to be PROTECTED AT ALL COST, and THAT was the MISSION of this Unit . In the American Civil war loading your musket was time consuming, it took excessive time to load cap & ball. Hence the Civil War era Color Guard soldier kept his musket LOADED but NEVER FIRED IT IN BATTLE. That LOADED round was SAVED to be used ONLY IF the FLAG came into jeopardy. The Color Guard IF THINGS WERE GOING WELL didnt get even dirty in battle. But IF THINGS WERE NOT GOING WELL their JOB was to DEFEND THE STANDARD TO THE LAST BALL, AND LAST MAN. IF the Color Guard is involved on the FIELD OF BATTLE, it is because ALL the OTHER UNITS HAVE FAILED, the Army was in RETREAT, or a ROUT. The FATE of the Army then RESTED with the Color Guard . You DEFENDED THE STANDARD, or you GOT IT TO SAFETY, but you DID NOT let it FALL into the hands of the Enemy. Very often the Color Guard was the LAST MAN to fall in Battle. We play out a version of this in the Arizona Civil War Council when we do events at Pioneer Village. Its the Last Stand, the LAST man to FALL is the man with the FLAG. Yup, Ive been THE LAST MAN STANDING before, you have to FALL in such a way that you try to have the FLAG STILL NOT touch the ground. It is JUST THAT IMPORTANT, and SYMBOLIC that a STANDARD NOT FALL. We in the Church have LOST SIGHT of that; PENTECOST is to REPRESENT God s SPRING HARVEST, THE CHURCH and the UNDERSTANDING GIVEN TO US by the Holy Spirit. We are Gods Army. We are SUPPOSED to be UNIFIED IN BATTLE. And THAT is the way it WAS for MANY years. Mr. Armstrong held aloft the STANDARD, and we marched Behind him 100% . When THAT was the case we could NOT be defeated. The Army moved FORWARD. Satan FLED in retreat, and there were FEW, if ANY Fiery Serpents.

Yet WHERE is the Army now? The Army has ABANDONED the STANDARD! The Army has FLED the Field! The Army is in a Rout! The Fiery Serpents are ALL AROUND!! Where the Army was ONCE UNITED, the Serpents have SCATTERED IT! This all happened because we SPOKE AGAINST God and His Servant. When the Fiery Serpents came, the people REFUSED to LOOK AT THE STANDARD. But there is STILL TIME, hence the PURPOSE of the REMANENT Of Gods Church!!

NOW IS THE TIME for the COLOR GUARD of the Church!

Let us NOT forget that Gods Army can NOT be DEFEATED (Psa 91:7). There will be those MANY that REFUSE to LOOK TO THE STANDARD. Sadly they will PERISH by the hands of the Fiery Serpents. The STANDARD is still there, the people NEED ONLY LOOK!! It is the DUTY of Gods END TIME Color GUARD to KEEP THE STANDARD WHERE THE PEOPLE CAN SEE IT. It is an INDIVIDUAL CHOICE whether they LOOK or NOT.

GUARD the COLORS to the LAST BALL, and LAST MAN!