Dear Brethren and Co-workers with Christ,
Thank you for your financial support and for your sincere, heartfelt prayers for this Work. You are greatly appreciated. One day in the future, we will all understand more fully the privilege God has given us to be involved in this end-time Work of preaching the true Gospel to a dying world and giving a warning of what will surely come unless we turn away from violating God’s laws.
It is no doubt difficult for any of us, me included, to fully comprehend how important this Work is. We are terribly small and there are so many others preaching what they believe is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It can appear to some that we are no more than another one of them. However, when we look into the Scriptures, we see that the Gospel Jesus preached during His ministry for three-and-a-half years prior to His crucifixion is a message that is not being preached by mainstream churches. The Kingdom of God is not in the hearts of men but is a very real Kingdom to be set up on Earth upon Christ’s return. Why is it that so few recognize this critically important and easy-to-understand message?
You may not be familiar with the term “Christian Nationalism,” but you are almost certainly aware of its meaning. It is a powerful trend and is not confined to the United States. It is an “ideology that seeks to create or maintain a legal fusion of Christian religion with a nation’s character” (Britannica Online). On the surface it can sound good to those of us who sigh and cry over the anti-biblical behaviors we see all around us: abortion, transgenderism, men in women’s sports, gaudily attired transvestites reading stories to small children, same-sex marriage, medical assistance in dying (MAID), and so much more.
While we sigh and cry over these abominations (Ezekiel 9:4), the Bible makes it abundantly clear that human attempts at transforming this world will fail. This is not currently God’s world, even though He has ultimate power over what is done here. Jesus said three times on the night in which He was betrayed that the devil is the current ruler of this age (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). And Paul tells us that “the prince of the power of the air” is a spirit working “in the sons of disobedience.” Satan is the one directing “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2).
No wonder the true Jesus Christ and the true Gospel are not being preached, and too many go along with this, as in the days of Paul, who said, “you may well put up with it” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Again, as in Paul’s day, Satan has his ministers who promote another Jesus, have a different spirit, and preach a different gospel. Notice how Paul describes them: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13–15).
Brethren and co-workers, I do not mean to sound harsh toward others, as I know that most are sincerely deceived. And a deceived person doesn’t know that he is deceived, or else he wouldn’t be deceived. Many pastors are caring individuals who have devoted their lives to serving people. I, too, was deceived for many years by this world’s confused, contradicting, and divergent counterfeit Christianity. I grew up believing doctrines that are nowhere found in Scripture and, in fact, are contrary to Scripture. And it all seemed so right!
A casual reading of the Bible shows that God’s true servants have never been in the majority and have often been seen as the bad guys. We must not be men-pleasers (Ephesians 6:6). Both Old Testament prophets and New Testament Apostles were thrown into prison and martyred because they called upon people to reject the course of this world and the one behind it and to repent of their personal sins. Yes, we hear preachers tell us that we are sinners, but when have you heard them give the Bible’s definition of sin? “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4, KJV). No, there is more to being a true Christian than repeating “the sinner’s prayer”!
You will likely receive this letter around the time of Christmas celebrations, and we have been upfront about how anti-Christian those celebrations are. We have a booklet on the subject (Is Christmas Christian?), we air a telecast every year at this time explaining the historic origins of this pre-Christian holiday, and we have articles in Tomorrow’s World every year on the subject. Many secular and even religious sources explain the disconnect between Jesus and Christmas, but who else is willing to go against custom and tell you, from the pages of the Bible, what God thinks about it?
How many professing Christians go into debt buying presents for friends, loved ones, and co-workers, yet neglect gifts to the very One they supposedly are celebrating? As explained in Is Christmas Christian?, the wise men did not show up on the night in which Jesus was born, but weeks or months later, when He was in a house (Matthew 2:11). And they did not exchange gifts among themselves but presented gifts to the child Jesus—not because it was His birthday (which it was not)—but because He was born to be a King.
Our world is in trouble. Human beings cannot transform Satan’s world into God’s world. The only escape from “cosmocide” for mankind will be the return of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:21–22).
There was a 1970s television commercial where an auto mechanic is pitching Fram oil filter. He ends by saying, “You can pay me now…or you can pay me later.” We are given the same choice. God is setting before us “life and death, blessing and cursing” (Deuteronomy 30:19). We can turn away from the Satan-directed course of this world now, while it is relatively easy, or we can be forced to make that choice during the Great Tribulation or the Day of the Lord, when it will be much more difficult in comparison. There is trouble on the horizon. Yes, it may be a few years away. You may or may not live long enough to see it, but it may come suddenly when least expected (1 Thessalonians 5:1–6).
Christ is deciding even now who will rule with Him in His Kingdom (Luke 19:11–27). Only those who reject Satan—and his world—will be given rulership. Those who go with the flow, who live according to the course of the prince of the power of the air, will be sorely disappointed.
This Work that you are supporting is different. It does not follow the course of this evil world but strives to follow original Christianity—that of Jesus Christ and His first-century followers. These are the ones who reject pagan days with Christ’s name stamped on them and instead follow in the footsteps of Jesus by keeping the same days He kept.
Thank you, dear brethren and co-workers, for your support. And remember that God accepted the widow’s mite even to a greater degree than those who gave more, because she gave all she had. But this does not mean those greater gifts are not appreciated—they are! I want to give special thanks to each of you who contribute to this end-time Work of the living God. There is a day coming when you will be rewarded beyond measure.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Gerald E. Weston