Oscar Pimentel, General Overseer,
The Church of God
“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer” Isaiah 54:7,8
That “small moment” was 1,578 years from the time the Church, which Jesus Christ organized, fell into apostasy until its resurgence or arising out of darkness on June 13, 1903, in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States of America.
God had, “at sundry times and in divers manners,” spoken to the fathers in times past by the Old Testament prophets, saying that Christ would come to organize and build His Church. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it” (Isa. 2:2).
“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it” (Micah 4:1).
“There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth” (Psa. 72:16).
The aforementioned prophecies would all be fulfilled after Christ arrived in the world but before He returned to the Father in heaven. Scripture tells us of the moment He organized the Church on a mountain (known today as the Horns of Hattin near the Sea of Galilee) during His earthly ministry. Church historian, Luke, wrote in the gospel that bears his name, “And it came to pass in those days that he [Jesus Christ] went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles” (Luke 6:12, 13). In Mark’s gospel a similar account is found which reads, “And he [Jesus] goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (Mark 3:13-15).
It was with this “handful of corn” (the twelve disciples) that Jesus Christ organized His Church in ad 28 on the top of Mount Hattin. This Body shook the then-known world with a sound like that of the mighty cedars of Lebanon when the wind blows upon their branches to knock one against the other and emit a thunderous echo—and “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer” Isaiah 54:7,8 God’s Church flourished “like grass of the earth” until ad 325 at the acceptance of the Nicean Creed.
The Church that was organized by Christ and purchased with His own precious blood upon Calvary was fulfilling prophecies written about it, and it didn’t only include the good and glorious ones but also those we might consider to be dark and gloomy. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian brethren who awaited the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gathering in of all God’s children, that they should not be “soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first…” (2 Thess. 2:2, 3). The utterances of the prophetic voices had already foretold the great Church of God’s falling away or apostasy where spiritual darkness and lethargy would cover the earth and gross darkness the people.
However, Holy Ghost inspired prophets of the Old Testament declared that God’s divine institution, The Church of God, would arise out of spiritual darkness, out of apostasy, and out of its dormant state in these last days.
Isaiah 49:13-19 says, “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.”
Although it was covered over for 1,578 years, the Lord had not abandoned His Church. It had not been completely annihilated, but only sat in spiritual weakness and stupor during that time. God’s comfort for His people was on its way! By the mouths of the prophets, its reappearance would be a sight to behold, and the location of its arising out of the Dark Ages would be in a land far from where Jesus Christ had organized it on Mount Hattin in Israel.
God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, gave a parable unto the house of Israel: “A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar: He cropped of the top of his young twigs, and carried it unto a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs” (Ezek. 17:3-6).
Through a prophetic lens, Ezekiel was able to see an eagle who was to take the young twig of the uppermost part of the cedar and transport it to a humble place of merchants. That eagle is representative of the bald eagle which is the national symbol and an integral part of the United States of America’s identity and pride.
Looking back to Isaiah’s prophecy regarding those that swallowed up the Church being “far away” at the time of its resurgence, it is significant and worthy of note that the distance between Israel and the United States is about 6,762 miles. God had predestined that His Church would be transplanted to a nation not yet in existence, represented by an eagle, that He Himself would raise up in order for His eternal plan to come to fruition. That prophesied nation would eventually come to be recognized as the most powerful military might and economically influential nation in world history. One of her cities, a city of merchants (New York), would house the World Trade Center complex where much of international trade between nations takes place; two of her most well-known buildings, that at one time made up the complex, were called the Twin Towers.
To help us distinguish His Church from all man-made churches, God continued to speak through His prophets and said, “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Song of Sol. 2:10-12). I am reminded of the writings of the apostle Paul when he wrote, “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Eph. 5:32).
What is found in Song of Solomon has often been described as the ongoing dialogue between Christ and His Bride, the Church. Here we find the Bride of Christ mentioning that her Love, Jesus Christ, is calling her to “Rise up” and follow Him. Where must she rise from? She must rise from her dormant state. She must rise out of her spiritual lethargy. She must rise out of darkness. She must rise out of obscurity!
Her Love, Christ, declares that the winter months have passed, the rainy season is over, the beautiful spring and summer flowers have appeared on the earth, and the voice of the turtledove can be heard. According to prophecies, the arise of God’s Church out of the darkness would not happen in the winter, nor would it be during the rainy season of the nation she was set to reappear in, but at a time when the turtledoves could be heard singing. How wonderful it is, as we see God narrowing it down for us by the words of the prophets, to see her in Scripture and by divine revelation! We can identify her in the world today as she operates and functions in the glory and power of God! The Lord spoke to her “ARISE, SHINE” and said it would not be in Israel, but far removed. He said it would be in a humble, but merchant-filled nation represented by a great eagle. He said it would be after winter and the rain but at the time of the turtledove’s voice—this is at a very specific time of the year in that nation. The month of June is easily identified as the one that meets all criteria for the specified time.
Turtledoves have been featured in art and culture for thousands of years. They visit England for the breeding season, arriving in late April and May and leaving again between July and September. They appear in Judea early in the spring, when the leaves are coming out, the flowers are opening, and everything looks lovely and beautiful—and they remain until summer is gone. They then fly away to a warmer climate to spend the winter. These doves are commonly found in southern Canada, the contiguous United States and northern Mexico. Today, the turtledove holds the distinction of being the only native North American bird to breed in every state, including Hawaii. Nahum spoke of “the day of his preparation” and told of “chariots…with flaming torches” that would rage in the streets and justle one against another in broad ways, he said they would “seem like torches, they shall run like lightnings” (Nah. 2:3, 4). What Nahum saw, he described with common references and familiar items of his day, but we have come to this side of his prophecies. We can recognize these chariots with flaming torches that run with lightning speed as the automobile, first produced by the Ford motor company in 1903.
The call for Christ’s Church (first organized in ad 28 that ceased to function in ad 325) to come out of obscurity and darkness came ringing on June 13, 1903 in fulfillment of Isaiah 60:1-3 which states, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
Shortly after this utterance by the prophet, he makes an interesting observation and presents a question, in verse eight of this same chapter, that is often overlooked by Bible scholars and theologians. “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” What else besides birds and clouds could Isaiah have possibly seen occupying the skies in his time? Yet he was not looking through natural eyes when he spotted something out of the ordinary, something otherworldly taking flight among the clouds and doves in the heavens. He may not have known what it was, and some scholars and theologians may be slow to give an answer to what he saw, but six months after the ARISE, SHINE of the Church—on December 17th of 1903—the Wright brothers made their first successful controlled air flight in the “Wright Flyer” and the modern aviation age was born.
Ezekiel saw the Church carried to a land of merchants. Solomon’s song noted her rising in the month of June. Nahum indicated her appearance with the introduction of the automobile. And Isaiah saw her emerging at the time of the invention of the airplane.
Listen to the psalmist David speaking in the spirit of prophecy, “Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood” (Psa. 132:6). You see, this real and powerful message of Christ and His exclusive Church was first announced and heard of in Ephratah (which is the name for Bethlehem), but was lost and neglected until it was discovered again by a man guided by God to a place known as Burger Mountain in Cherokee County, Murphy, North Carolina, USA. It was there in a wooded range known as the Appalachian Mountains, in eastern North America, that Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson discovered—not founded, not organized, not established—but discovered The Great Church of God of the Last Days at God’s appointed time according to prophecies.