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Dear Brethren and Friends,

Worry that borders on outright fear has entered into the lives of people who live in even the most prosperous nations of the earth! No longer are the bad things just happening to other people! The reality so little understood is that this world has come to the generation that will mark the end of life, as we know it! Governments are destined to fail; nations will cease to exist, or, at the very least, they will be decimated; and the earth itself is going to suffer such destruction that life of any kind will be tenuous and in mortal danger! How can such ominous things happen? Is this just doomsday thinking—lacking any real proof or certainty? If you have come to believe God, and if you believe the prophecies He has left for His people in His Word, then you KNOW that human governments under the influence of Satan will be brought to an end. Along with this, Jesus Christ warned of awesome events on a scale never before experienced by mankind. One key element beginning to emerge at this time is the rise of a powerful religion with global influence and might. This is something for us to recognize and watch. That emerging super-religion will be empowered by Satan and his demonic forces. Jesus Christ warned that in the end time, “‘…false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to DECEIVE, if possible, even the elect’”(Matthew 24:24). In Revelation 13 and in 2 Thessalonians 2, more details about the leader of that powerful religion reveal that he will use stupendous signs to deceive the whole world—forcing people into false worship and even killing those who refuse! Extraordinary devastation will soon fall upon the modern English-speaking descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh—the British Empire and the United States of America. In a prophecy written long ago in the Book of Jeremiah, God foretold that He would punish His nation for their sins unless they repented. The time setting is the unparalleled period that will usher in the promised Kingdom of God at the return of Jesus Christ. Note the wording: “‘“Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble”’” (Jeremiah 30:7). We know that this is a warning that is especially directed to the United States and Britain—the nations who bear the name of Jacob (Compare Genesis 48:16).

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – May 7, 2008"

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Dear Members, Co-Workers and Friends:

We have just finished our annual conference for 2008, and we would like to thank all of you who prayed for its success. When reporting about last year’s conference, we wrote the following in our letter, dated February 21, 2007:

“Do we realize how much this world is in utter confusion; how close we are to the return of Christ; and how great our responsibility is to do the Work of God—the most important activity anyone could be involved in? But do we really understand that Christ will only return, when the true gospel of the Kingdom of God has been preached and when His wife—His true Church—has made herself ready (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 19:7-9)?”

As we did last year, so we focused again during this year’s conference on our all-important duty and two-fold commission to preach the gospel and to feed the flock. In reflecting on what has been accomplished during this past year, we were encouraged to continue and excel with even more energy and zeal. Whatever God grants us to do, we must never forget to give Him all the credit and glory. We thought you might be encouraged as well when focusing on what has been accomplished since the 2007 conference, and what we are planning to do in the near future.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – April 8, 2008"

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Dear Brethren, Co-Workers and Friends:

It is hard to believe that next month baptized members of the Church of God will be keeping the annual Passover. Time seems to pass by so quickly, which is exactly the reason why God tells us in His Word that we should examine ourselves at this time of year, prior to Passover. God knew full well that if we did not have these annual stop signs or periods of time to reflect on His great master plan and our own development in Christian growth, we would soon forget about His whole plan of salvation for mankind—Passover being the very beginning step. If we get caught up in our jobs, work, pleasures and cares of this world, it is easy to forget what God’s plan is all about.

Just as some who have left the faith find that in a very short while, they no longer recall when to keep God’s Holy Days and they no longer understand biblical principals associated with those Days, we too could find ourselves in the same position, if we are not careful. God, knowing human nature, designed in His wisdom a way by which we could bring to remembrance the practices God has instituted, reflecting the Truth of His teachings.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – March 5, 2008"

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Dear Brethren, Co-Workers and Friends,

The year of 2007 has now passed, complete with the usual end-of-year spending and excess, which was just a continuation of what has become the norm in many nations around the world. However, financial clouds on the horizon, emanating primarily from the subprime mortgage crisis in the USA, cast a cloud over the normal festivities. Subprime lending is, put simply, the act of approving mortgages to those with a poor credit history at higher than normal interest rates, and many have found it impossible to meet their commitments, with the result of foreclosures and associated problems. In addition, the housing market has cooled significantly, which also brings along another set of problems. Add into that mix the ever-spiraling personal debt situation, and the prospects are less than encouraging. Because of their position on the world stage, whenever there are problems in the USA, these are reflected in the world economy, and the UK and continental Europe, and even countries in Asia, are feeling the same set of pressures. Recent figures in the UK have shown that personal debt has doubled since the year 2000.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – January 8, 2008"

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Dear Brethren, Co-Workers and Friends,

It’s Christmas time again. No matter where you may live in our “civilized” Western world, you can’t help but noticing it. Christmas carols are being played non-stop in supermarkets; friendly-smiling merchants wish you a “happy Christmas,” and televised religious broadcasts and services proclaim and repeat endlessly the Christmas dream of peace and good will for all men.

Yet, before and after Christ’s life and death as a human being, we have had insurmountable problems, violence, hatred, wars, destruction, holocausts and crimes against humanity. Surely, if it had been God’s intention to have His Son replace war with peace about 2,000 years ago—to make this world a better place then—He would have really done a miserable job.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – December 10, 2007"

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Dear Brethren, Co-Workers and Friends,

In the big picture of world events that are surging forward and fulfilling prophecies that other generations have only wondered about, how does all of this relate to each one of us?

What does God expect of us?

It is so easy to get caught up in the events of the moment—all of the myriad of things that occupy our time. And without question, we all have responsibilities to our families, to our work, to personal necessities—to our place in life!

We each must ask ourselves a most vital question in light of how we are living our own life, day by day. That question is, “Am I READY, NOW, for what is ahead?”

This is our area of responsibility! When Jesus presented the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the contrast was between a profitable servant and one who was unprofitable. At the crux of this presentation was an absolutely key principle that we must be faithful with what we have been given.

Consider what we have been given. We have been called into the truth of God (John 16:13;

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – November 12, 2007"

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Dear Brethren, Co-Workers and Friends:

What a truly great Feast of Tabernacles 2007 it has been! We can confidently say that God did bless His people tremendously—physically and spiritually—who assembled this year in Florence, Oregon, and in Derbyshire, in Great Britain.

We are quoting below excerpts from Feast reports which we published in their entirety in our recent Update (#313):

Excerpts from Brian Gale’s Feast Report 2007 from Great Britain
“… the Global Church of God Feast site at Chatsworth House in rural Derbyshire in the Peak District National Park, had a very pleasant spell of good weather that greatly enhanced the enjoyment of a wonderful Feast with just a very small amount of rain… This year we had eleven different speakers who gave a wonderful and varied helping of spiritual food… These messages were designed to instruct and motivate members about the wonderful future that God has promised for His faithful people in the Kingdom of God. How blessed we are to have such precious knowledge and to spend eight days in being instructed in what lies ahead.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – October 17, 2007"

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Dear Brethren and Friends:

It is hard to pick up a newspaper or listen to or read the news, and not hear about more killings in Iraq; more unrest in Afghanistan and India; more fighting and violent murders in various nations of Africa; and, of course, terrible crimes in the USA, the UK, Canada, and all over the world.

Even nature—the weather—has been acting very strangely—with floods in parts of India, China, Europe, the UK and the USA. We hear comments like, “This is the worst rain since 50 years.” In the town of Summerland where I live, 63 millimeters of rain fell in two hours, setting an all-time record since rainfall has been recorded here. These unusual worldwide rainfalls have produced floods which have adversely affected literally hundreds of millions of victims—not just a few thousand. People wonder and shake their heads, but the truth is, we, the whole earth, are under a curse for turning our backs on God and for rejecting His clear commands of how and when to worship Him on a daily, weekly and annual basis.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – September 5, 2007"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

So many have forecast the end of the age (or world) over the course of the last 2,000 years and, to date, everyone has proven to be wrong. I have a book on this very subject and the author takes over 350 pages to discuss a mountain of information from around the world about failed prophecies from a myriad of different sources. This book, published in 1996, asked “What is it about the advent of the year 2000 which propels millions of people in the direction of apocalyptic belief? Why should Christians who know perfectly well that Christ was not born in AD 1 attach such importance to the calendar change? Even more strangely, why should the prospect of a new millennium quicken the pulse of millions of non-Christians? Belief in the approaching End of Time, we shall discover, is not the exclusive preserve of placard-waving prophets of doom. It is one of the great driving forces of history.”

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – August 1, 2007"

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Dear Brethren and Friends:

This is the time when the American people celebrate their “Independence Day.” I couldn’t help but comparing this event with the brief history of our Church organization in the USA—the “Church of the Eternal God.”

When something new starts, it is often accompanied by problems. But where there is vision and zeal for the right cause, there will be success. After a period of spiritual drought and lethargy, of little accomplishment and much fruitless debate, some ministers in the USA decided to resign from their former association and start anew, by incorporating the “Church of the Eternal God.”

Documents were filed with the Secretary of State on July 2, 2001, and the certificate of incorporation was issued on July 5, 2001. This means that the Church of the Eternal God has now entered the seventh year of its corporate existence. In due course, state and federal tax exemptions were received, on November 26, 2001, and July 30, 2002, respectively.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – July 4, 2007"