If you look at the history of God’s Church, you see seven eras that began in a.d. 31 and culminate with the return of Jesus Christ. It appears that five of the seven eras were eventually led away from God’s truth.

Every Church era except the Philadelphia and Smyrna eras had leaders, at least in the end, who led them astray. That is why, in most cases, new eras were raised up by God. Those who were led astray forgot what they had been taught.

God places special emphasis on remembering His truth. “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name” (Malachi 3:16).

God remembers those who remember Him! These special people in Malachi 3:16 feared God and spoke often to each other about God’s truth. While others turned away from God’s truth, they held on to it.

Many prophecies about the end time discuss a turning away from past instructions (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 15; Revelation 3:7-21). It is a book of remembrance because they remembered what they were taught!

“Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:18). If we are going to be able to discern between those who serve God and those who serve Him not, it will be because we remember what we were taught. Without that precious God-inspired knowledge, Satan will deceive us!

The entire book of Malachi revolves around two groups—those who forget (the majority) and those who remember (the minority). Are you in that book of remembrance? How can you be sure to remember what God teaches?

First, we must prove all things. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

After we have proved the truth of God, we must then hold on to it. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Even after proving God’s truth, many of His people eventually let go of it. But we are instructed to hold fast to God’s truth.

Christ makes the same point about holding fast in the book of Revelation. “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3:11). Those who fail to remember what God teaches will lose their eternal future!

There is real danger in forgetting what God teaches through His apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:5). Over the years, many of God’s people have let the trials or the cares of this life become more important than remembering what God taught them (Luke 8:13-14).

But Christ told us that only those who endure until the end shall be saved (Matthew 10:22). Enduring until the end requires that we constantly remember what God has taught us. It is not only the hearers of the word, but the doers that shall inherit the Kingdom of God (James 1:22).

Do you remember what God taught you through Herbert W. Armstrong? Do you remember what God has continued to teach you through Gerald Flurry? If you would like a refresher, please read Mystery of the Ages and Malachi’s Message.