Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ,
Greetings from Charlotte, NC! A virtual cascade of prophetic events is now beginning to take place! The situation in Iraq is coming apart at the seams. Report after report indicates that the situation is deteriorating into a civil war there. Things are not much better in Afghanistan—as more and more Americans and Britons are being killed and America and its allies are only in control in certain cities. Despite 23,000 American troops being there, the war in Afghanistan is all but lost. The Taliban are back, and fully control all but the capital city, Kabul.
America’s backing of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon is now beginning to turn even our “moderate” Arab allies against us. Saudi Arabian King Abdullah has warned this week, “If the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war” (Charlotte Observer, July 29, 2006).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has in the past acted as an important mediator in the Israeli/Arab conflict. Now he mixes his condemnation of Hezbollah’s move with sharp criticism of Israel’s response. He has made other statements indicating a movement away from support for America, and toward increasing unity with Iran and other militant Muslim nations.
All of this will begin to drive the Arabs to unite militarily against Israel, America and the West—bringing about the prophesied “King of the South!” (Dan. 11:40-45). In turn, these and other events will cause the Europeans to form a genuinely cohesive union—leading to the final formation of the “King of the North”—the prophesied “Beast” of Revelation 17!
Then, perhaps most ominous of all, is the situation involving Iran. They have absolutely refused to halt their obvious preparations to build atomic weapons! As the New York Times (August 7, 2006) reported, “Iran’s chief national security official said Sunday that Iran would defy the United Nations Security Council by refusing to halt enrichment of uranium by the end of the month.”
In addition, note carefully this most significant recent statement from Bernard Lewis, professor emeritus at Princeton University and one of the world’s top scholars regarding Islam and the Middle East. Professor Lewis states, “In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time—Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined. Mr. Ahmadinejad and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president giving his final answer to the U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22. This was at first reported as ‘by the end of August,’ but Mr. Ahmadinejad's statement was more precise. What is the significance of Aug. 22? This year, Aug. 22 corresponds, in the Islamic calendar, to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to ‘the farthest mosque,’ usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1). This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind” (The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2006).
Dear brethren, August 22 may have come and gone by the time many of you read this. But all of this should remind us that prophetic events are certainly hurtling toward the grand smash climax of history including the coming Great Tribulation, the Heavenly Signs and the return of Jesus Christ to this earth! With literally millions of human beings suffering throughout the African continent from AIDS and from the brutality of tribal warfare involving mass slaughter, rape, torture and starvation, with additional millions throughout large portions of Asia, the Middle East, Central and South America and elsewhere suffering increasingly from hunger and despair, it is obvious that God is beginning to intervene in human history! I hope that all of us who “have eyes to see” will understand this. May God help us and inspire us to “get on the ball” and get out the wonderful message of Christ’s return and the soon-coming Government of God over this earth to bring, finally, genuine peace, prosperity, and a depth of joy such as humans have never experienced before.
Remember, after describing the traumatic events leading up to His Second Coming, Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
For those of us who truly understand, these events are simply heralding the most magnificent time in the history of mankind. We, who are now called by God, have the opportunity to prepare for the return of the King of kings. We who understand can now “lay up treasure” in heaven by giving ourselves fully in the most important crusade in human history in preparing for Christ’s return. Also, by “overcoming” and genuinely learning and practicing God’s way of life and His government based on His laws, we are “in training” to become actual kings and priests in the coming Government of God to be set up soon! (1 Cor. 6:1-3; Rev. 1:5-6; 2:26; 5:9-10; 20:6). If we are going to really believe the Bible, we will look forward with great anticipation to Christ’s return and our opportunity to assist Him in genuinely “healing” this suffering and confused world in the coming Kingdom of God.
This should be exciting! This should be the driving force in all of our lives—the focus of our thoughts, prayers and efforts. Meanwhile, we in this Work are striving our best to fulfill Jesus’ command, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).
Please remember, the genuine “Gospel” or Good News of the Bible is not just about the person of Jesus. Rather, it is His message about the coming Government of God—the “Kingdom of God”—which He preached continually and which we describe to you fully, over and over, in the Tomorrow’s World magazine and in all of our literature. As the setting up of the real “New World Order” nears, we should begin to feel a sense of anticipation and excitement beyond anything we have ever experienced before! For we will have the chance to help Christ “wipe away all tears” and to heal those who are sick, and to genuinely comfort those who are hurting, agonizing and in total despair at the increasing suffering brought on by this world’s civilizations under the influence of Satan the devil.
What an opportunity! What a privilege!
And let us also be excited about the opportunity we now have to prepare the way for this wonderful reign of Christ on earth. Many encouraging developments are occurring in this Work—a few of which are mentioned in this report which recently came across my desk:
“As of today, the Tomorrow’s World telecast has added more than 359,000 first-time callers since the telecast began in January 1999. While this number itself is fairly large, there are aspects of this count that are truly impressive.
This week our 400th person brand-new to the telecast and the Church was baptized. These 400 individuals found the Truth and God’s Church through the Tomorrow’s World telecast. What is impressive is the ratio of baptisms to the number of TV viewers on our mailing list. Back in the middle 1980s, the Church was baptizing one out of every 1,000 TV respondents who had been on the mailing list for seven years. Today, we are seeing one out of 200 being baptized who came on our mailing list seven years ago.
We have also had more than 400 others baptized since 1999, who came on file from the telecast, but they had previous knowledge or contact with God’s Church. To date, the Tomorrow’s World telecast has been instrumental in more than 800 baptisms that we know about.
Of the 359,000 viewers added to our files, 45,000 were added just this year, which is 31 percent above last year’s total at the same time. We are expecting to add more than 100,000 new TV viewers to our worldwide mailing list this year—our biggest year yet.”
Meanwhile, the number of people writing in and requesting a visit from one of our ministers or representatives has essentially doubled in the last fourteen months! We had 106 such requests in June of 2005. With various ups and downs—but mainly up—the chart I have been given describing these responses now indicates that we reached 216 such responses in July of this year—with an even higher number, 269, in May of this year! So God, through this Work, is now bringing in twice the number of people wanting to actually act on God’s Truth and become involved in living God’s way of life and sharing this precious way by worshiping together with others who also understand. Thank God!
Again, let us all be inspired—not discouraged—by the awesome events now shaping up in the Middle East and around the world. Remember, these are the events which we have preached about and written about from the beginning of this Work! Although mainly sincere, the “mainstream” ministers and religious teachers simply do not understand. We have been given, only through God’s mercy, the precious genuine understanding of the Plan and Purpose God is working out, of the major specific events involving our modern nations and peoples, and the purpose God has behind all of this as He makes us His full Sons in His coming glorified family at the resurrection. God speed that day!
Again, please be sure to do your part with zeal in preparing for God’s Kingdom, and in your prayers and financial backing of the Work which Christ truly is using to prepare the way for His return. You will be laying up treasure in heaven. As we are now in the “summer doldrums” some have slacked off in their support of Christ’s Work. So all of us who understand should take action and be sure to do our part to get this Work going more powerfully than ever as these prophetic events begin to speed up all around us. Thank you, in advance, for your prayers and your support!
With Christian love,
Roderick C. Meredith