Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ,
Greetings from Charlotte, NC! Your support as a member of the Living Church of God, or as a co-worker, has brought about tremendous results this past year! Our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is doing a mighty Work through His tiny Church and His small group of co-workers in these last days! I’ve been in this Work for over 60 years, and I am amazed and impressed with what Jesus Christ has done this past year through such a small group of people, here in the United States and around the world!
Matthew 24:14 states: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” This Great Commission is being fulfilled as a result of our international telecasts and magazines, our worldwide presence on the Internet, our extensive mailings, radio in foreign countries, and last, but in no way least, by word of mouth. Through these media we are now virtually reaching all nations on earth!
This past year we added over 120,000 new Tomorrow’s World magazine subscribers in countries around the world. Our international telecasts were watched by 2.7 million brand new viewers in 2011, and our TomorrowsWorld.org Web site drew 1.4 million new visitors around the world.
Thanks to member and co-worker support, the Tomorrow’s World TV programs were carried on 232 TV stations or networks around the world. Eighteen of the TV stations or networks were added just last year. Our TV coverage brought in more than 286,000 responses through free phone calls, letters and the Internet. From all media sources combined, a total of more than 832,000 booklets, reprints, lessons, CDs, DVDs and other published items were sent upon request worldwide—making 2011 our biggest year ever and an increase of 19 percent over all the items sent in 2010. More literature was mailed last year than in our first five years combined! On top of all this, nearly 2 million Tomorrow’s World magazine copies were mailed in 2011.
TV coverage in the United States and Canada now reaches more than 105 million homes via over-the-air telecasts, cable and satellite TV—82 percent of all TV homes in North America can watch a Tomorrow’s World telecast on TV, plus even more millions could see our telecasts on any day or at any time on our website at www.TomorrowsWorld.org.
We thank God for His great blessings on us this past year! And I certainly hope God has poured out His blessings on you and enriched your life in countless ways for your heartfelt commitment to His worldwide Work this past year. Thank you so very much, my dear brethren and fellow co-workers. I am truly grateful, and as grateful as I am, there is still so much to do this year and beyond!
As most of you realize, this world has been, and continues to be, deceived (Revelation 12:9). Almighty God has allowed Satan the Devil to utterly confuse the vast majority of human beings. Millions are “searching” for understanding, for the real meaning of life. But they search in the wrong places. For, in His ultimate wisdom, God has allowed human beings to go the wrong way for six thousand years under the influence of Satan the Devil. Satan has misguided people and caused them to have a perverted understanding of the Bible—so much so that, in fact, very few people truly believe that the Bible is directly inspired by God. Although they get “sentimental” ideas from it, they do not use it as a genuine guide for their lives.
Yet, the specific prophecies which I have preached for decades are right now beginning to occur. The God of the Bible is real. “The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic gauge of nuclear danger, has moved one minute closer to midnight because of ‘inadequate progress’ on nuclear and climate issues. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced the move—to five minutes before midnight—on Tuesday. The clock last moved one minute back in 2010. BAS said the failure of multiple nations to control the spread of nuclear weapons was a cause for worry. The group, which created the clock in 1947, said that two years ago it believed world leaders were trying to address global threat issues. ‘In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed,’ it said in a statement to explain the change” (BBC News Online, January 11, 2012).
So our time is drawing short for giving a truly powerful warning to our peoples—and to the whole world—about what lies just ahead. We have a huge job to do! And Almighty God certainly does intend for His faithful servants to “warn” all of our fellow human beings about the soon-coming Great Tribulation. God tells us in His Word about this very thing and about the sense of urgency which we should have in delivering this message: “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” (Proverbs 24:11-12).
Dear brethren and co-workers, as we powerfully preach God’s warning message to this world—and tell people about their mounting sins—persecution will come! We need to realize this and exercise the faith and courage to preach God’s message anyway—knowing the awesome reward we will have. Our Father in heaven tells us in 1 Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” Later, God inspired Peter to say, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’ Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (vv. 17-19).
So each of us must learn to “give” of ourselves in doing God’s Work—and become true “Christian Soldiers” to carry His final message to this world. We must put our faith and trust in God who is now intervening in world events. We must make our lives truly “count for something big.” Even though trials, tests and persecutions will come, we must “go all out” to serve our Creator. Again, our reward will be truly awesome. The Eternal God tells us about our reward which will come after this terrible time of tribulation and persecution: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
Are you willing to join with us in “turning many” to genuine righteousness? Are you willing to go all out in this crusade to proclaim God’s full message to the world before it is too late? May God help you to have the faith and courage to do this.
Again, thank you, dear brethren and co-workers, for the wonderful help and support you have already given in this Work of faith. Our Father in heaven is watching. He is “testing” each one of us—you and me. He is offering us an awesome opportunity to be part of His ruling family forever—if we truly give our lives to Him and serve Him as He clearly tells us to do. May God inspire each one of us to do just that with all of our heart.
With Christian love,
Roderick C. Meredith
P.S.Enclosed with this letter is a small gift—a 2012 calendar showing the dates of God’s Holy Days. I hope you find it useful.