There is an interesting story behind this hymn. For twenty years it languished, almost never sang, in the usual congregations. Even now, this is definitely not one of the stronger hymns, whose words and melody come back almost unbidden (and sometimes unwillingly).
This hymn provides a clear demarcation line of the church, pre- and post-changes.
Go ye therefore into all the world;
preach the gospel unto everyone;
Teach all nations to observe all things
I have commanded you.
Baptize them into the Father’s Name,
in the Holy Spirit’s, and the Son’s;
Lo, I shall be with you to the end;
lo, I am with you alway.
Those who have believed and are baptized
shall be saved while others are condemned;
Then as for those who now do believe
these signs shall surely follow:
They shall cast out demons in My Name,
they shall not be hurt by deadly things;
And they shall lay hands upon the sick,
and the sick shall be made well.
Christ was taken up into the heavens
after He had spoken all these words;
There His Father did receive Him and
place Him at His right hand.
His disciples went out as He said;
and they preached the gospel everywhere;
Christ worked with them and confirmed the word,
by those signs which followed them.
This song languished in the back of the hymnal for many years. Around the times of the changes, this became the ONLY hymn that was guaranteed to be sung, week after week, after week, after interminable week. Maybe they were warming us up for the inevitable thought reform of the initial thought reform, that was to be brought down like a hammer onto a crystal goblet, in December ‘94.
Regardless of the reasons, the melody of the hymn is dirge-like and trance-making, as dull and repetitive as it is. Some Christian ex-members bemoan the fact that this is the only song in the purple joy killer that even remotely falls in line with “mainstream” Christian teachings, which was why it became the only hymn to be sung, around and shortly after, the changes hit.
I disagree with this assessment. As is obvious from the hymn itself, the song is talking about events in the fictional biblical “past” — the apostles went out and preached the gospel, and performed the miracles.
There is absolutely no way that a member of Worldwide, past, present, or current, could misinterpret this hymn to mean that we were the ones supposed to be proselytizing and casting out demons (Does the current WCG do exorcisms I wonder? It does everything else “mainstream”.) Rather, this hymn was to be taken as the last time “the truth” had been preached, until 1900 years later, when Armstrong came along, and decided to found his own little empire.
An empire Joseph Tkach Jr., is still profiting very nicely by, with no accountability whatsoever.
Tags: Add new tag, cult control, false church history, the changes
