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Dear Brethren and Friends,

Physical things, by their nature, deteriorate and break down. No matter how much we pay for a vehicle, the first thing we will have to replace are the tires, and then brakes and muffler. Eventually, the alternator will fail as well as the fuel pump, the water pump, and the air-cottoned compressor; and if we have the vehicle long enough, the last two things which will break down are the transmission and finally the motor.

Even our physical bodies break down until we die. The patriarchs who lived at times over nine hundred years eventually died. Our physical bodies are not designed to live for eternity, and most of us would not want to live forever with a physical body and its limitations.

Thankfully, as life moves forward, those who remain faithful to their calling will receive a new spiritual body which will not break down, but which will last forever. Especially for those of us who are older and are living with bodies that are breaking down, that is very good news. We will have a body that is fully productive twenty-four hours a day, and which never runs out of energy. Never feeling tired nor exhausted is really something to look forward to.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – March 3, 2022"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

Two years ago, we began to experience circumstances which have changed the world. Now, the Covid-19 pandemic and governmental restrictions continue to stifle the lives of most of this world’s population. Beyond the hundreds of millions of infections and the millions of deaths, daily living is no longer the “normal” of previous years. We realize of course that the figures might be inflated, as many who had been counted as having died of corona died with corona because of underlying conditions, and that lockdowns and other restrictions contributed to the death of many, as recent research confirms. In any event, the number of people who became sick and died has been staggering.

Certainly, the Church of God has suffered during this time—along with the rest of society. Deaths have occurred and several have been stricken by this infectious disease. Due to governmental lockdowns and other restrictive measures, even the ability to assemble together for weekly Sabbath services or to attend the annual Holy Days, including the Feast of Tabernacles, has been altered and made more challenging. In some areas, even attending on the Sabbath had been prohibited, and Church members had to make a choice as to whom they wanted to obey—God or man.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – February 16, 2022"

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Dear Members and Friends,

We live in a world of changes. Ever since we were conceived, things have been changing. 

Nothing stays the same, and nothing goes back to the way it was. We live in the present moments that are happening—not in the past and not in the future. Everything is now! 

Solomon reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun. Were there computers or cars in his day? No! What he is trying to convey is that the thoughts of men, the things that are done, “new” things, “new” ideas coming into being, are all but of the same vein. 

When God stopped the building of the tower of Babel, it always interested me that He said in Genesis 11:6:  “And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.’” The power and ability to learn, grow and create things is something that God placed within mankind. This power has not stopped. 

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – January 20, 2022"

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Dear Co-workers and Brethren,

Coming to the end of the calendar year, many people are contemplative of the events of the past 12 months. There’s not much argument about it being an especially eventful year. Covid 19 dominates headlines daily; lockdowns and fear cause psychological damage by isolating people in their time of need; political maneuverings abound following administration changes in the US and European nations; racial tensions are magnified. Sadly, the things that stand out the most are grim.

What emerges as a theme for the year is that ideologies have become bastions that polarize the populous. Picking a side to affiliate with is an expectation in our society, while holding a balanced point of view is considered weak. Or at least, this is what our media outlets would have us believe. It is the extreme points of view, with the loudest voices that get the most attention because of their titillating, sensationalist presentations of the so-called “truth”. Of course, we observe the opposing sides present a different “truth” with equally strong rhetoric vigor. While the so-called “truth” is everywhere, the actual Truth gets no attention by the media, whatsoever.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – December 21, 2021"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

I have thought, for a long time, that it must take more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than in the great Creator God.

The theory of evolution challenges the idea that God is the designer of the universe and that the beauty, order and complexity of the universe is evidence of a superior supernatural being. And yet, there are those who deny the evidence before their very eyes of a creation that demands a Creator and cling on to an unprovable notion that evolution is responsible for all that we see on earth and in a hugely impressive solar system that boggles the imagination in its size and complexity.

I want to quote a short piece entitled “Swallow that one! Showing how ridiculous the theory of evolution is”:

“This false religious movement is called ‘Evolution’. It has no scientific basis, despite its claims to the contrary. It is a belief system teaching that everything came into being by chance, that billions of years ago, out of nothing, an atom, no larger than a ‘dot’ on this page, made itself. Then after millions of years it started spinning and spun so fast that it blew up. Out of this big bang the entire vast universe was formed, including the millions of Galaxies, Space and everything that exists. After further millions of years primitive life evolved from ‘Pond Scum’ and eventually into living creatures. Then by their own shoe straps they pulled themselves up, finally developing into a diversity of living things, with mankind originating from an ape-like creature millions of years ago. This is a belief system of a fool, for only a fool can believe that nothing created something.” 

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – November 10, 2021"

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Dear Members and Friends,

We have just returned from celebrating what Church of God members have been looking forward to the whole year—when we could put our everyday lives on hold and when we could worship together in peace and harmony; exactly, what the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day picture. But being able to observe these days didn’t come without its challenges, for we couldn’t celebrate them in a way we used to in times past, without restrictions and other complications we hadn’t faced before. This already started to become evident last Feast. The world as we once knew it has changed and it doesn’t appear that it will get any better or return back “to normal.”

In my message on the Last Great Day, titled “Right Now,” I mentioned that we have all witnessed a miracle this Feast. By being able to observe God’s Holy Days like we did, under various circumstances and challenges that we had to go through to even make it to the Feast, and still having had the privilege to meet together is considered a miracle. And yet there were brethren among us who weren’t able to attend the Feast due to illness.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – October 15, 2021"

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Dear Members and Friends,

It is only a few weeks now until the Feast of Trumpets occurs, which will be followed by the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. We can certainly look forward especially to this Feast of Trumpets because of what we read in Revelation 11:15. This pictures the culmination of the blowing of the seven trumpets after the Great Tribulation and the Day of the LORD: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’”

To us, this is a wonderful day to look forward to. It pictures what is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. And thus we shall always be with the LORD.” This is the time of the beginning of our eternal life—a time of great rejoicing when we will meet up with all of those we have known in God’s Church who have endured to the end. We will also meet up with many others, including prophets and members of God’s Church throughout the ages.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – August 20, 2021"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

With summer upon us and the restrictions of Covid-19 being laxed by some governments of this world (while others begin again to impose more restrictions), there is an increase in travel and entertainment. People have been cooped up and are anxious to get back into the groove of things. There could be a downside to all of this, and that is the neglect of spiritual matters, because now we may become really busy and God may at times take a back seat to our activities.

This could take us away from our task at hand, given to us by God, which is to preach and publish the gospel to the world as a witness, watch and pray, and grow in grace and knowledge, and we could instead become distracted by our busy lives and lose focus.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – July 15, 2021"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

How do we measure up when it comes to living a faithful life before God? Can it be said of us that we have “walked with God”—as did Enoch (Genesis 5:22), or that we are “the friend of God”—as was Abraham (James 2:23)? Can we, like the Apostle Paul, say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)?

Also, consider David, who has been chosen to be ruler over Israel “forever” (Ezekiel 37:25), and he is memorialized with these words from God: “‘“I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will”’” (Acts 13:22).

Of these people—and others—it is revealed that they, “having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise” (Hebrews 11:39). [That promise is God’s immutable assurance of eternal life in His Kingdom (Titus 1:2).] Consider, also, what applies to Christians, to us, in verse 40 of Hebrews 11: “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – June 15, 2021"