We must remember what we were and how far God has brought us out of that place, pulled out of the muck and brought into His glory.

Before anyone can have fellowship before God, the obstacle of sin must be eliminated, which is a permanent barrier between us and God.

Reconciliation is the product of a sacrifice to pacify the wrath of an offended person. We must imitate Christ in His approach toward hostility from others.

Repentance is something we must do with our God-given free moral agency. Reconciliation is an ongoing process that enables us to draw closer to what God is.

God did not create rebellion, but He did create free will, giving us a choice, which our carnal nature sabotages because it is enmity against God and His law.

After reconciliation, there can finally be a meeting of minds as we are fashioned into a new creation, invited to sit in heavenly places, created for good works.

Since the beginning, God's purpose has been to bring all things into harmony with Him, giving mankind a respite from the heaviness of a sin-laden world.

The necessity for Christ's death stems from God's holiness and absolute intolerance of sin and His obligation to judge righteously.

True peacemaking means emulating Christ, which that involves promoting justice and righteousness, not merely avoiding conflict or appeasing by compromising.

It is foolish and pointless to use the same charm, social skills, and duplicity toward God as we use to deceive others and, sadly, even ourselves.

The fall holy days picture various judgments by God, bringing about liberty, reconciliation, regathering, and restoration.

The Sabbath rest depicts the miracle of conversion, in which the transformation of mankind into God's image brings about a rest in which God takes pleasure.

The two principal robbers of peace are pride and the drive to have complete control of our lives. Discontent and imagined victimization led Adam and Eve into sin.

We must learn to see ourselves and our function as God sees us—as a distinct, unique entity, a holy people, a special treasure.

A major cause in the splitting of the church has been the wholesale rejection of the doctrines Herbert Armstrong, under God's inspiration, restored.

God does not love everybody equally. Nowhere does He tell us to prefer the ungodly world. Though He tells us to love our enemies, but not to be affectionate.

Christ's propitiatory sacrifice satisfied both the law and God's holiness, allowing Him to extend mercy to believing, repentant sinners.

Though Passover and Atonement both deal with Christ's sacrifice, several reasons emerge to make Atonement a better fit for the fall holy days.

Man's estrangement from God is wholly man's fault. Atonement denotes the way harmony is achieved, making the entire world at one or reconciled with God.

'Justification' is a theological term that many do not understand, thinking that it is a complex point of doctrine. But it is not as difficult as it may seem.

God's solution to mankind's separation was sending a second Adam, Jesus Christ, to make reconciliation possible. Fasting shows our dependence on God.

Jesus' perfect offering of Himself for us fulfilled the sin offering of Leviticus 4. Our acceptance of His offering for atonement puts us under obligation.

God employs a winnowing process in selecting those who will enter the Millennium. The process includes punishment for Israel's failure to serve as priests.

The prospect of atonement and salvation is available to everybody, but only those called by the Father—not by an evangelical altar call—are eligible.

God the Father does not take the minimization of His Son's sacrifice lightly, as some Protestant theologians imply with their cheap grace doctrine.

The sin offering was for sin in general deals with our evil nature, while the trespass offering deals with the fruits of that nature.

Competition is the root cause of war, business takeovers, and marital discord. Solomon describes man's rivalry with one another as a striving after wind.

Our relationship with God is the key to unity with the brethren. When we are all just like Christ, we will also all resemble each other—and there will be unity.

When people are not in a right relationship with God, peace is impossible. Sin (the breaking of the law or covenant) automatically breaks the peace.

Being poor in spirit is a foundational spiritual state for qualifying for God's Kingdom. Poor in spirit describes being acutely aware of one's dependency.

This world lauds warmakers, but God says that peacemakers are blessed. The first step in becoming a peacemaker is to be reconciled to God.

The world will learn that God judges—that He has the ultimate decision over everything. After Satan is bound, God will bring about seven reconcilements.

Our forgiveness from God is conditional, depending upon our forgiving others. It is an opportunity for us to extend grace, sacrificing as Christ did for us.

Conciliation involves placating others with the intent to bring harmony and peace. By esteeming others better than ourselves, we become a force for peace.

We do not have the ability to bring peace to the world; only Christ can do that, first reconciling people to God and then with other people.

The world has little or no idea what true peace is or how it is achieved. Yet we can produce godly peace even in the midst of turmoil—and we must.

While the other accounts of Jesus' trial and crucifixion seem to show passivity, John shows Jesus totally in charge, purposefully and courageously moving.