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September - October 2002 | ||||||
Word of Prophecy NEWSLETTER | ||||||
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Bro. Pringle's Last Message | ||||||
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This is Brother Pringle's last message to us, written in his own hand, and left for us to find on his writing table. | ||||||
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THE WORLD'S MEANEST THIEF
By Bro. Ray Pringle, Sr. Excerpted from Word of Prophecy Newsletter, November - December 1994 | ||||||
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In Charles Dickens' folklore, "A Christmas Carol", even old tightwad Scrooge got generous at Christmas time. However, Jesus Christ in our Holy Bible commands Christians to be generous, caring, and sharing, daily. The true Spirit of Christ in a true Christian will manifest generosity and concern for others _ not selfishness, greed, and lust.
CHRIST'S CHURCH AMONG PLEASURE SEEKERS & MONEY LOVERS
True Christians cannot afford to live like the selfish and lust-filled worldly crowd that we are surrounded by. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." II Corinthians 6:17. Further, we are warned by the Lord, "For the love of money is the root of all evil [that is, the cause of all our adversity, heartache, and loss]: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.": I Timothy 6:10. Please ponder this scintillating revelation for a moment longer. Jesus commanded His disciples "to lay up ... treasures [the money they would save] in heaven," (Matthew 6:20), not in IRA's, in Stocks and Bonds, or in Savings Accounts.
WILL A MAN ROB GOD?
The Holy Scriptures record that God once directed a very probing question to His own people: "Will a man rob God?" Malachi 3:8a. And in almost the same breath God answered His own piercing question: "Yet ye have robbed me!" Malachi 3:8b. The world's meanest thief must be a person, especially a real Christian, who robs his best friend _ God Almighty. Wouldn't it be a shameful news item appearing under your local newspaper headline every Monday morning with an expose of your selfishness? JOHN SMITH (Your name) ROBS GOD AGAIN! Tens of thousands of God's people rob Him weekly, and yet have both hands held out to be filled again! ROBBING GOD _ THE
PENALTY
The sin of robbing God carries a severe penalty _ and why not? "Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:16-17. The Bible unequivocally warns every member of the family of God: "Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation." Malachi 3:9. Beloved, at least one-tenth of your income belongs to God _ it is not yours to begin with, and it should never be put in your bank account with your money nor spent. The tithe should be separated from your 90% first, and immediately put in God's storehouse. The tithe is the Lord's! Don't touch it, or God warns: "You will be visited with a curse!" And evidently, you cannot be blessed and cursed at the same time _ for God has warned the rebellious: "I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings." Malachi 2:2. Now, even though many don't like to hear about those curses being visited because of rebellion against God's laws, the wise will discern that this word from the Lord only can rationally and realistically answer questions with relationship to today's epidemic of dilemmas and disasters. | ||
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A CURSE
"A curse? How?" I am so often asked. The Word of God reveals that "the curse" can come upon one who robs God in the form of sickness and disease, a broken home, heartbreak, a fire, a storm, an accident, a wrecked automobile, a failing business, insanity, or a nervous breakdown. The Bible declares that we are God's sheep (John 15), and whoever owns the sheep, also owns the wool. Right? God's part of that wool is at least 10%. "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth." Deuteronomy 8:18. God has said: "Be sure to bring my tithe and your offering unto me and I will bless your part (90%) so it will meet all your needs _ but if you keep my tenth, the 100% will be cursed and made insufficient to cover your obligations and needs."
When God's people rebel against this commandment, i.e., robbing God of tithes and offerings which are holy unto the Lord, this will be the result: "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes … Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it." Haggai 1:6-9. What a way to live! Miserably!
CHRISTIANS DO ROB GOD
In what way does a Christian rob the Lord, the giver of every good thing he possesses? Answer: "Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." Malachi 3:8b. God's laws of tithing and giving are everlasting, which both the Old and New Testament declare. "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord …the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." Leviticus 27:30-32. The tenth of our increase in earnings of income as a businessman, a laborer, an investor, a retiree, or a person on welfare _ belongs to the Lord! And this order from God has never been abrogated nor ever will be. Malachi 3:6. "I am the Lord; I change not."
ROBBING GOD IS A SIN
"Return unto me, and I will return unto you," saith the Lord. Restoration to divine favor can be reestablished in most cases by a Christian who lives under a curse by simply: "Quit robbing God." The Apostle warns: "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." I Timothy 6:10-11. Beloved, don't envy those who have more money, cars, land, houses, food, clothing, and luxuries than you! Don't rob God to get ahead, or to acquire material things. Jesus gave a recipe for your success that works on every level of Christian experience: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things [material] shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33. And the Holy Scriptures further add: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but [rather] righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Romans 14:17. Note the command: Put God and the work of His kingdom FIRST! That is, God's business and not your business! God will keep your "shop" with care _ full _ ness!
GOD CANNOT TRUST MOST CHRISTIANS | ||
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Can you trust a thief? A person who robs you and steals from you? Well, NO! God cannot either. How can a Christian be mean enough to rob his best friend, The Lord? Jesus said, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust in much … And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's [the Lord's], who shall give you that which is your own?" Luke 16:10-12.
Some of God's professing saints offer the alibi: I can't afford to tithe! How utterly foolish! You cannot afford to rob God and to invite the ruin and curse that will come upon you and your family. God will rebuke the devourer _ i.e., doctor bills, drug bills, injuries, a failing business, fires, storms, diseases _ He will heal you in sickness, and bless your whole house. "A faithful man shall abound with blessings." Proverbs 28:20. You can ill afford not to tithe and give offerings to God.
GOD'S SECOND NATURE _ GIVING
Giving is our God's second nature! He abhors selfishness, greed, covetousness, or stinginess _ and, He cannot and will not bless nor reward these conditions in His sons or daughters. Deuteronomy 32:19; Hebrews 12:28-29. Robbing God is a terrible sin, and it demands and receives cursing _ not blessing! There is no excuse for robbing God if you love Him and trust His Word to be true! God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18; Numbers 23:19), and it is an insult to His integrity and faithfulness to have His children rob Him through unbelief! Yes, unbelief _ doubting that God will open the windows of heaven to you with showers of blessings, rebuking the devourer, and multiplying your income that has been faithfully tithed! God has challenged you: "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts" _ bring your tithes and offerings into the Storehouse (where you get your spiritual meat, God's true Word) and trust Me to pour you out a blessing and rebuke the devourer. This should be done faithfully for at least six months to fully prove God, if you haven't already done so!
PUT GOD FIRST
God commands us to put Him first, always! Matthew 6:33. The first thing to do when you get your salary, dividend, or income is: Pay your tithes unto the Lord, and set aside an offering to the work of the Kingdom of God from your remaining 90%! "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Proverbs 3:9-10. Wonderful! Praise God! The New Testament order is: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." I Corinthians 16:2. If God loves a cheerful giver, what is His feeling toward a tightwad and God-robber?
IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE! I have witnessed the truth of this tragedy among hundreds of professing saints: Robbing God is an open invitation to the curse of heartache, misery, disease, financial disaster, broken homes, delinquent children, with many other accompanying troubles and sorrows. God has promised: "The liberal soul shall be made fat [spiritually]: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." Proverbs 11:25. Hallelujah! I know that's the truth! | ||
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GOD'S TITHE
COLLECTORS
God has tithe collectors who will collect our tithes if we don't render them unto the Lord. Don't despise the locust, the caterpillars, the palmerworm, and the cankerworm (Joel 1:1-4); these are God's tithe collectors! Don't despise that loss of employment, the devourer of sickness, the druggist, that heartache, that financial disaster _ these are God's tax collectors if you are robbing Him!
CHRIST'S WORD ON
TITHING & GIVING
In this next command of our Lord, the responsibility to give is very constraining to His disciples: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms [offerings]; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:32-34. And, the Holy Ghost has a divine right to direct us into going far beyond just tithing (or investing just 10% into the work of the Kingdom) to the seeming excess of "selling some possession, or withdrawing from our savings account to support God's work."
THERE IS A DEFINITE CAUSE
The root of all a Christian's adversity _ that is, his trouble, distress, sickness, heartache, loss, and defeat _ is always the same _ ROBBING GOD! Beloved, don't be the world's meanest thief and pay for it in heartbreaking loss, disease, financial disaster and spiritual bankruptcy for you and your family. God has warned us all: "The curse causeless shall not come." Proverbs 26:2. God has promised you and me that if we will "Bring ... all the tithes into the storehouse" He will "rebuke the devourer" for our sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of our ground [our blessings we receive from the Lord for obedience to His Word]. Malachi 3:10-11.
The End. | ||
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A LETTER FROM SIS. PRINGLE | ||
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To say that I miss Raymond (that's what I called him) is an understatement. We were married for sixty-one years, five months, and twenty-one days. So you know that there is a gigantic void in my life _ unbearable without the comfort of the Holy Ghost. I lean heavily on the Lord, but I also leaned on my husband and depended greatly on his fervent prayers. He was an intercessory pray-er. God has given me sweet assurance that Brother Ray Pringle, Sr. had finished his labor here on this earth and is now resting in the arms of Jesus. Even though we miss him terribly, we must bow to the will of almighty God. Do we understand why God took him at this time? He, so full of energy, so vibrant, a seemingly untiring workaholic, and so excited about the calling that God had placed on his life. No! We do not understand but we know that God does not make mistakes. We must now band together to carry out Bro. Ray Pringle, Sr.'s wishes to continue the vital endtime message that he so passionately believed, preached, and taught. | ||
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Bro. Pringle was not only called and chosen; he was DRIVEN by the Holy Ghost. He was my husband and father to our children: Ray, Jr., Billy, Fay (who has already gone to be with the Lord), Amber, Noelle, and Chris _ but he was not ours. Christened Raymond Stargel Pringle by his parents, who were devout Christians. He was God's man! As completely as he could be TOTALLY GOD'S MAN. May the Lord give us grace and the means to keep the Word of Prophecy strong all over the world. Even though Brother Pringle is gone, the prophetic message lives on. God bless you all and all of us together as we warn the world of the Gathering Storm and tell people how to miss the sore judgments of God that are coming on this world.
Sincerely, With Christian Love and Prayers Naomi Pringle | ||||
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WORD OF PROPHECY
FELLOWSHIP: THE NEXT GENERATION, CONTINUES
By the time you receive this newsletter, it will have been five months since my dad, the founder of this Fellowship, passed away. These have been very trying times. It's sometimes hard to cope with the passing of such a great man of God, but the fact still remains that he is gone and we are left here to continue the work that Dad started. Jesus said in Mark 13:31 "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." As all of you know Dad spoke nothing but the truth right out of our Holy Bible. We did not like it sometime, but we learned to obey and rejoice in the un-compromised Word of God. Just like the logo on all Dad's literature states; "Is not my Word like as a fire, saith the Lord," Jer. 23:29. The Word will burn us up and then build us back into a better person and a whole lot better Christian. I promised and vowed to Dad and to God that I would do everything in my power to keep his message alive, and that is just what I am going to do. The most important thing to remember is the fact that I cannot do this alone. It will take a gigantic effort from all of us to accomplish this Herculean task. The devil will do anything and everything in his power to see that Dad's voice is silenced and we cannot let that happen. Please, ladies and gentlemen, we need to get that great man's message out to this nation that we are living in: we need your financial support. We recently had to discontinue the broadcast on five stations that we just could not continue to pay for. I have received phone calls and inquiries regarding this, and all I can say is we did not get the support to continue with them. Since Dad passed away, several people have stopped their support and that hinders us from doing what he and God want us to do. Be sure to read the last message that Dad had written just before he went to be with the Lord (Page 1). This great Fellowship is not only located here in the United States, but also in India, South America, Canada, Africa, the Philippines and other nations, and hundreds of churches. The need for supporting Dad's message to this violence-filled world is too important to let personalities and differences get in the way. We do our best to help our fellow Christians in these other have-not countries; they need our help desperately. Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every nation, and we do that by sending them Bibles, audiotapes, books, magazines, videos, and Bible School lessons, that prepare men and women in their country to get the message to their people. Violence is everywhere and these are very troublesome times; we need to have God's protection for us and our families. David said in Psalm 4:8 "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." When we are doing our very best for God, He is doing His very best for us and He can do a lot better than we can. Proverbs 21:31. Dad's message is a voice of restoration to the Church of Jesus Christ and to His saints and their families. I receive letters from a lot of you folks that help me greatly, because it gives me more courage to continue. Dad has taught us many things that we cannot forget. We need God's help for: family problems, healing, good jobs, encour | ||||
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agement, and solution to problems, salvation for our loved ones and to heal our nation. This can all be accomplished by being obedient to God's Word. I remember many times when Dad was teaching, he would say, "Hold on to God for your needs, never hold on to the problem." I am here to say to you wonderful partners in this next generation of "The Word of Prophecy Fellowship", that God still answers prayers. As Dad has said so many times as he quoted from Winston Churchill, "Never give in, never, never, never!" Bro. Ray Pringle, Jr. | ||
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A TRIBUTE TO A TRUE MAN OF GOD
I was thirsting for the truth & hungry And asked God to show me the light So during an ice storm, I dug out my radio On a cold December night.
From a city far away Came a loud voice over the airwaves So I listened with rapturous attention Wanting desperately the grace that saves.
This man was no soothsaying preacher Wanting his words to hit home And I could feel myself in God's presence At last, I didn't feel so alone.
Over time I listened & learned And came to think of this man as my friend With his prayers, sermons and guidance I felt close to the Lord again.
There are so few preachers like "Brother Ray" And the Lord blessed us by having him here I hope others can listen to his voice And know that God loves us and is near.
Just as Ray said, I am willing To stand alone in a Sick Society if I must With him gone now I get a little frightened Not knowing who else I can trust.
God bless you, Brother Pringle, And I know He sure is; You were a mighty soldier for the Lord Fearless, righteous, and undoubtedly His.
Written in loving memory of Brother Ray Pringle, Sr. By Marci'a Diane Desborough | ||