Dear Brethren and Co-workers with Christ,
While Mr. Gerald Weston is out of town, he has asked me to write this month’s letter. He will be visiting Living Church of God members in Missouri during the Joplin congregation’s annual Family Weekend. Activities like this are a wonderful opportunity to hear special messages, enjoy fellowship with others of like mind, and build bonds of love and goodwill under the banner of our shared faith and hope. As King David wrote in Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
Those spiritual bonds that tie us together will be all the more important as this world continues to steer into prophetic headwinds. In fact, the pages of Scripture make clear that the most challenging times in all of human history lie just before us. Frankly, I find it awe inspiring to witness just how quickly things are moving in the directions this Work has long proclaimed. God is in motion, and that fact should seize our attention: “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!” (Zechariah 2:13).
My friends, we must realize that we are living in unique times! We cannot allow it to escape our attention that the world has never seen a collection of risks such as we see now gathering before us.
Consider Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24, that “unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved” (v. 22). Until the development of atomic weaponry, culminating in mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it seemed unfathomable that mankind could truly wipe out all life on earth. Yet, a little more than 80 years later, thermonuclear devices are thousands of times more destructive than those original weapons—and the technology is widespread, possessed by at least nine nations and carried on missiles capable of raining death and destruction anywhere on the globe.
And, sadly, our capacity to create a devastated planet on which “no flesh would be saved” is not limited to a nuclear exchange. For example, our ability to manipulate life at the most fundamental of levels has raised the specter of runaway biological weapons. The COVID-19 pandemic woke up many to the danger of viruses escaping the confines of our laboratories. Now consider viruses and bacteria intentionally modified as weapons to spread mass disease, suffering, and death. If we think treaties and international agreements between warring parties are sufficient to prevent such catastrophes, we are putting far too much faith in human nature.
Then there is the great unknown represented by artificial intelligence. The promise of A.I. to deliver vast leaps in understanding, accelerate technological development, and powerfully multiply productivity is too tempting for governments and corporations to resist. But many in the industry have warned that, in many ways, we still do not have a complete grasp of what we are dealing with in A.I. technology. Researchers Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, in their book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, explain in grim detail that, no matter how polite and friendly we train our A.I. systems to appear, the underlying models behind the mask remain a complete mystery. Tests by leading A.I. companies, such as Anthropic, have revealed that, under certain conditions, many A.I. models will lie, cheat, blackmail, or even kill to achieve their goals. However, we are reaching the point where we cannot continue testing some of these systems—because the A.I. has grown advanced enough to “know” it is being tested and then chooses to behave differently for the researchers than it would in real world scenarios, so it can pass the test. More and more A.I. professionals are declaring that the technology poses an “existential threat” to mankind—and are leaving their businesses in protest.
Despite these concerns, we continue to give increasing amounts of autonomous control to A.I. systems in the hope that, eventually, solutions will be found. No government wants to risk having weaker A.I. than its enemies possess, and no business wants to miss out on the profits that the technology promises.
Our list could go on and on, as mankind continues to invent new and creative paths toward achieving the very world Jesus Christ warned was coming—a world in which, truly, “no flesh would be saved.”
Yet, even as existential threats multiply, there is good news! Jesus Christ is returning to save us from ourselves! As the rest of the verse in Matthew 24 says, “those days will be shortened.” The Almighty truly does love us too much to allow us to destroy ourselves, and He will send His Son to put an end to the madness and to establish the Kingdom of God—creating a world in which our very purpose for existing will be fulfilled, and humanity will finally learn the way to true peace, joy, and happiness.
That is the good news and the hope that Tomorrow’s World carries into the world—truly, the only real hope this world has! Every individual in every country on earth needs to hear God’s warning about where we are all headed and His hope-filled vision of what comes next for all who will submit their lives to the reign of His Son. For those who know the truth of these things, Jesus Christ’s command is clear: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). And He doesn’t want to hear excuses. Instead, He wants to hear the same response He received from the prophet Isaiah: “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
As members and co-workers, you have shown that Isaiah’s words resonate with you. You’ve heard Christ’s call to action, and you’ve answered. We are so grateful for what you do—and for what you allow God to do through you—to make this Work possible.
We continue to stretch ourselves and explore new ways to preach the truth of God and the hope of Jesus Christ’s return to as many as we can. Just this week, Mr. Mike DeSimone, who manages our television and digital media efforts, gave us encouraging news concerning the growth of our Tomorrow’s World YouTube channel. Based on the last six months, he reported that our content averages 1.1 million views every month, representing 700,000 unique, individual viewers. And of those viewers, 558,000 are new viewers each month. As I write this letter, our YouTube subscribers currently number 670,000, and that number is growing every day.
Whether online, on air, in print, or in person, Jesus Christ’s message of the coming Kingdom of God is going to the world! And in His mercy, our Father in heaven allows you and me to have a part in His great Work. What a humbling privilege that is. We thank you for recognizing that and for taking hold of Christ’s banner alongside us—and, against all opposition, moving it forward.
Let all of us continue praying that the Kingdom of God on earth will soon become not only the message we carry, but the reality we see around us.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Wallace G. Smith