Conversation is easy with our peers. A common age often means common interests, shared cares and a similar knowledge base. We use the term “generational gap” to explain the inherent difficulties in relationships between different generations. The world continually changes. Experiences change. Knowledge bases are different. It can make it intimidating to walk up to someone 20 or 30 or 40 years older than you and strike up a casual conversation. The generation gap is not as pronounced in God’s Church as it is in mainstream society, but that intimidation factor can still exist. So here’s a sure-fire conversation starter:

“What was it like reading Malachi’s Message for the first time?”

Herbert W. Armstrong died on January 16, 1986. So if you are less than 30 years old, you were never alive at the same time as Mr. Armstrong. Malachi’s Message was first published in 1990. If you are 26 or younger, Gerald Flurry’s manuscript is older than you. I fall into this category. The readership of True Education falls into this category. That’s you.

Malachi’s Message is a history book to us. That can be a hard concept for our parents and the previous generation to grasp sometimes. If they came out of the wcg, that book explained current events that were unfolding before their eyes. They probably have an “I saw Mr. Armstrong speak live” story. They can put bearded faces to names like Joseph Tkach and Joe Tkach, Jr. They also remember the changes. They remember the books and booklets being taken out of print. They remember the Who Was Jesus? booklet. The things you read as history, they heard from the pulpit.

If there ever was a generational gap that needs to be bridged, this is it!

Malachi’s Message is one of the foundational writings of this Church era, and the revelation from God that showed many true Christians where He had moved the lamp. Our inability to imagine what that time period was like should drive us to learn from our elders about their experience with that important book.

Are we seeking that education?

After the 2016 Ministerial Conference, almost every single message given at Headquarters touched on or drew heavily from Malachi’s Message. Mr. Flurry focused the ministry back on that book, and they, in turn, directed our focus back to it as well. Malachi’s Message is for all of us, but our generation needs extra help to understand the depth of that message. Often second and third generation Christians have to work harder to value the truth. We have not had to fight for it in the same way as our parents or grandparents. We have not experienced a ministry deliberately trying to lead us astray.

Your parents, my parents and members in our congregations have battled that strong delusion. They read and proved what Mr. Flurry wrote, and they followed the lamp.

So how do we gain from their experience?

Talk to them about it. It is as simple as that. Mr. Flurry encouraged us to go through the book again; as you do, take special note of some of the statements that “date” the text. They will prompt thoughts that you can bring up in conversation. Here is a handful just from the first two chapters:

On the many splinter groups that had come out of the wcg: “It is crucial that we find the church which is delivering God’s final warning message.”

On an unnamed minister who led a group out of the wcg: “If you will prayerfully consider this man’s reasoning, you can see he doesn’t have a clear focus on God’s message.”

On members following spiritually dead leaders: “When five out of seven Church eras were prophesied to be led away from Christ, do you think it can’t happen to you—even when a Laodicean era is prophesied to appear?”

On not applying a personality to Matthew 17: “This is no tiny issue to be casually pushed aside while Pasadena leaders act like they are not changing foundational beliefs!”

On the Who Was Jesus? booklet: “The … booklet is mostly about the person of Christ. It’s this booklet’s direction that we need to be concerned about.”

On Mr. Armstrong’s books being out of print: “Many people have Mr. Armstrong’s books and booklets. Hang on to them!”

Malachi’s Message is filled with lines like these—words that resonated with Christians searching for truth in a time of spiritual turmoil and Church upheaval; words that were urgent and answered members’ questions. Those statements will not have the same impact on us—unless we actively seek to understand what that time was like. To gain that deeper level of understanding, we must turn to our parents and those members in our congregations who came out of the wcg, read Mr. Flurry’s manuscript, and judged what he wrote against the Bible.

Digging into the pcg’s roots and learning people’s personal experiences with Malachi’s Message will help to close that generational gap in the Church. They want to share that history—and we need to learn from it.

Our appreciation of Malachi’s Message needs to be far deeper than just a surface reading and an intellectual understanding. That book changed peoples’ lives, and our generation has to work to understand that in a deeper way.

Talk to your parents if they came out of the wcg. Seek out the older members in your congregation and learn their history with that foundational book. Make Malachi’s Message come to life. Make Malachi’s Message more than history.