Dear Brethren and Friends, Truly significant and encouraging developments are under way! As we have reported before, the entire panorama of prophecy we have understood for decades really is finally coming together! Much of the news is very sad— growing food shortages, hunger in many nations, massive earthquakes and other natural disturbances, fast-growing malaise in the United States and Britain as our economic problems increase. Our American dollar will continue to drop even more in value, as other nations come to respect us less and less. And, as God prophesied: "The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:43–44).
So, what lies ahead?
In the world as a whole—and especially among the descendants of Joseph and Israel (Genesis 48:14–16)—we will behold continued deterioration, growing sin and all kinds of things going wrong (Deuteronomy 28:15–68). Our peoples will truly be humbled. Thankfully, many then will be willing to listen to the Truth we are preaching and publishing.
Meanwhile, we in the Living Church of God must truly draw closer to God and "walk with God" ever more closely as the end approaches. And we must put our whole hearts into proclaiming the inspiring message of the soon coming Kingdom or Government of God as a "witness to all the nations" (Matthew 24:14).
Also, we must preach the true "name" of Jesus Christ—the vital message about the true Jesus Christ of the Bible and what He actually taught, and the entire Way of life based on His teachings and His example (Acts 24:14, 22).
At this point, brethren, I would like to "brainstorm" with you and give you a general overview of my thinking as to how world conditions are going to go from here—and what we in God's Church will be doing over the next several years. I hope this will give you more specific ideas of what to think about and what to pray about, and I hope it will help to draw us all closer together in having the "same mind" as we approach these final days.
First of all, it is obvious that whoever is elected as the next President of the United States of America will be far more liberal than the current President. Huge additional amounts of money will be spent on government programs— redistribution that will benefit certain individuals, but tend to take away from and overtax the broad lower middle-class and middle middle-class peoples in the United States. The same will probably hold true in the other British-descended nations.
Then, gradually, we will face the specter of real hunger in America and Britain before it is all over. As the prophecies of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 make plain, God is going to humble us far beyond anything we have faced before! We are going to have increasing drought in certain areas, and in other areas awesome floods and storms and earthquakes. Disease epidemics will begin to take hold and finally become a major factor in humbling our peoples and bringing our nations down.
Meanwhile, a powerful ten-"kingdom" union—the "Beast"—will arise in Europe and begin to assert itself in many ways. Even now, European Union rules and regulations are beginning to be accepted in many parts of the world as the standard for conducting business in such areas as environmental protection and fighting global warming. And this is just the beginning! As the final nations of the "Beast" get themselves together, they will certainly be dominated by a great "whore"—the great false church—and will be tremendously inspired by a miracle-working great false prophet. This is real, brethren, and it will soon affect the lives of all of us.
We must think things through—ahead of time—and decide whether or not we are going to trust the God of the Bible, or whether we will simply "go along" with the millions around us who "follow the crowd" and take the easy way out. It will indeed be easier to go along, at first. But, in the end, the beast, the false prophet and their followers will suffer truly horrible judgments. As your Bible says: "Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20). Their followers will be put to the sword (v. 21).
However, those of us in God's Church who are genuine Philadelphians—who have the "fire in our belly" to become fully involved in His Work, and prepare for Christ's coming Kingdom with all our hearts—will be tremendously rewarded! Even now, brethren, the Work of the Living Church of God is taking on increased stature every month. As we have reported to you many times, the number of prospective members is going way up. The number of new donors and co-workers is also increasing a great deal. Our impact through the television programs is continually increasing and we are now averaging about 3,500 or more responses every single week to the telecast! This is not being done anywhere else.
Additionally, we are ordaining a number of new ministers, and some ministers from other Church of God groups are beginning to look our way and realize in their hearts where the Work is being done. A number are already in contact with us. We have just graduated our first six students from Living University! The impact of this new on-line university may well be awesome before it is all over with. For the world's colleges are increasingly degenerating into cesspools of immorality and bastions of political correctness and other kinds of crazy and impractical thinking— and they are often very poor places for most young people to attend.
So, we are grateful for what Christ is already beginning to do. We need to be genuinely humble and realize it is "not about us"—for, as the Bible states, we humanly have "little strength" (Revelation 3:8). As I have stated repeatedly, none of us is "great" in human capacity, and we all certainly need much more of God's Holy Spirit. I am extremely aware of this! Yet, as Mr. Herbert Armstrong stated repeatedly, "God's Church goes forward on its knees!"
Therefore, brethren if every one of us can "catch the vision" and realize the tremendous impact we should be having in the years to come, each of us can genuinely give our lives as a living sacrifice to the great God, preparing the way for Christ's return! For a truly powerful Work must and will be done through the true servants of the living God! As Jesus said about these very end times: "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake" (Matthew 24:9).
As I have said repeatedly, we cannot be hated by "all nations" unless they know that we exist! So this Work of the living Christ must become far more powerful for us to be known and "hated" by all nations. Nothing could be plainer!
If we "drop the ball," so to speak, then God will give this opportunity to others. But we have been given the understanding, the zeal and the vision for doing this very end-time Work beyond any others at this time. Most of you brethren realize this. It does not make us "better." For many other Church of God brethren may be "better" than some of us in their personal lives. But, somehow, so many others are so concerned about having a "nice" church to attend, and being close to their friends, that they fail to catch the vision that God has given us—of the absolute necessity to lay down our lives in Christ's service and perform His end-time Work. If we can retain this vision and drive ourselves forward—on our knees, and in every other way— then we will certainly be among those "people who know their God [and] shall be strong, and carry out great exploits" (Daniel 11:32).
If we will learn to cry out to God to clean us up, fashion and mold us more and more and genuinely use us in His service, then we will definitely be among those people described in the book of Malachi: "Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. 'They shall be Mine,' says the Lord of hosts, 'On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him'" (Malachi 3:16–17).
Brethren, may God grant that each one of us may be wholeheartedly involved in what Jesus Christ is beginning to do to prepare for His Second Coming, and the setting up of a genuine world government, and surrendering to the calling to urgently warn our unconverted brethren and our peoples and nations of what truly lies just ahead! May God grant each one of us this understanding, and the faith and courage to act on the awesome understanding and calling which God has given us at this critical time in human history.
