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Dear Friends and Co-Workers, 

As I think about this past year while we get ready to move into 2023, I wonder what we are moving towards. During this year, many of us have had significant trials and tests. We have faced them, overcome them, or are currently walking through that “valley of the shadow of death”

Our member letters are meant to be filled with encouragement. They are also written from a very personal point of view. As I am writing this letter, I am thinking about all the things that I have gone through this year and just how it has affected my growth, and then I also see that I need to become more diligent in certain regards or shore up other aspects. I think, we each can relate to the same way of thinking. But this requires us to do some deep introspection. 

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – December 24, 2022"

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Dear Members and Friends,

We returned from the observance of this year’s Feast of Tabernacles to look forward to the next spring festival season—beginning with Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Who can tell how many more annual Holy Days we will still be able to celebrate before Jesus Christ returns? A contract for accommodations for next year’s Feast of Tabernacles in Germany has been signed, and we are looking into the possibility of observing the Feast here in the USA in Colorado. Scattered members and friends, including from Canada, the USA, and Australia were listening in to our live services as well.

In Germany, we had nine baptisms, and with a baptism on the Feast of Trumpets, we actually had ten. Also, this was the tenth year that we kept the Feast in Germany as the Kirche des Ewigen Gottes. We also had an ordination to the office of deacon, with more ordinations to follow in time. We also had the highest number in attendance ever in Germany. In comparison, attendance in the USA was down, due in large part to sicknesses and the inability, because of frailties, to attend the Feast site in person. Guests did not show up because our Feast site was not “convenient” enough for them (What a difference in attitude and zeal when considering the dedication of those guests from great distances who attended in Germany). Numerical growth of membership and attendance in the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia is not high at this point, but this might change in the future.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – November 10, 2022"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

This month, we will begin to observe the Fall Holy Days. On September 26th, the Feast of Trumpets will be observed.

All of God’s commanded Holy Days portray significant parts in His great master plan for the salvation of mankind. Yet, the vast majority of people have not even the vaguest idea of their meaning, and only the precious few understand their significance. Rather, under the blinding deception of Satan’s world rule (John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4), so called “holidays” such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween have displaced the true sacred assemblies God has commanded—including Sunday worship in place of Sabbath observance. In fact, God utterly rejects worship associated with these false ceremonies and rituals! (Isaiah 1:12-15; Amos 5:21-23).

Continue reading "Letter the the Brethren – September 8, 2022"

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Dear Members and Coworkers,

Georges Seurat is known for the pointillist technique of painting that he used to create very large paintings. His most famous and recognizable painting, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”, depicts several people lounging on the lawn on a hillside by the water. You would probably recognize it if you saw it. In my early twenties, I had the opportunity to see this painting in person, and only then was I able to appreciate the grandeur. Seurat’s technique requires viewing the painting from a distance to see the full scene. However, when viewing the painting up close, I was amazed to see how the image was composed exclusively of several dots of color to create the impression of an image. I remember the surprise of seeing how the selection of unexpected colors was used to create the illusion of other colors when combined. The green lawn consisted of yellow and blue, but also red and purple, among other colors. To create such a work of art, Seurat needed to focus very closely on the work he performed at a micro-scale, giving attention to the selection of color, one dot at a time.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – August 19, 2022"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

My wife and I had the privilege of visiting the brethren in the San Diego area for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread this year and to participate in person at the annual Church conference. It was a very pleasant trip and, not having visited the area since 2019 due to the Covid 19 restrictions, it reminded us of the great country that the USA has been, but now seems to be in terminal decline. Much of the same could also be said about the UK and other English-speaking nations, but it seems that every nation has been affected by the pandemic and other events around the world.

We were also privileged to be able to travel to the far-east at the end of last year to see family and, again, saw another nation troubled by the pandemic but with no social security or pension arrangements which are enjoyed by many nations in the west. They are not alone in not having a safety net when tragedy happens, but they get on with it as best they can. We can have expectations that the government will come to our rescue when disaster strikes while many other countries may appear not to have made any such provisions should crises or calamities arise in their nation. The differences are stark and show how the English-speaking nations have been blessed more than we deserve; particularly, when we see what is happening in our different countries.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – July 8, 2022"

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Dear Members and Friends,

There are a number of sections in the Bible where God, in most cases Jesus Christ, showed His love, compassion and concern for the people He was dealing with at the time. The passages can help us understand how He treated His people during the ages and be examples for us today, since He is the same, yesterday and forever.

In the first section to be considered, we find there was a special relationship between Abraham and God. However, this relationship is not mentioned until 2 Chronicles 20:7 where we find that Abraham was a friend of God. This fact is repeated in James 2:23 where we read, “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.” Of course, when Abraham believed God, this belief resulted in him comprehensively obeying God, which we can read of in Genesis 26:5.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – June 10, 2022"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

In this letter, we would like to report on the recent 2022 Church Conference, held on Friday, April 29th through Sunday, May 1st and conducted from Escondido, California.

We utilized “Google Meets” for those in attendance. While we did face time zone differences, Thilo and Anita Hanstein, Christoph and Monique Sperzel (from Germany), and Paul and Tine Niehoff (from Australia) were able to participate. Also, Rene and Delia Messier (from Canada) and Dave and Peggy Harris (from Colorado) joined the meetings.

Norbert and Johanna Link, Michael and Anna Link, Eric Rank, Kalon Mitchell, Margaret Adair, Rhonda Cagle and Dawn Thompson were among those in California. Also, Brian and Jill Gale had travelled from England to California for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread and to attend the Conference.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – May 13, 2022"

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Dear Brethren, Coworkers and Friends,

When Christ’s disciples asked Him what would be the sign of His Coming and the end of the world—this present evil age controlled and ruled by Satan the Devil—He said to be aware of religious deception, wars and rumors of wars, famine, disease epidemics and earthquakes. We have been most certainly experiencing all of them for quite a while, but Christ said when we see those events occurring with ever-increasing strength, the end is near. He called these events the beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:8) and cautioned us that while these sorrows or labor pains will overtake this world unexpectedly, we must not be asleep, but awake (1 Thessalonians 5:3-6), redeeming the time, because these are evil days (Ephesians 5:16). But we know that in the end, the present sorrows will be replaced with unspeakable joy (John 16:21).

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – April 7, 2022"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

Physical things, by their nature, deteriorate and break down. No matter how much we pay for a vehicle, the first thing we will have to replace are the tires, and then brakes and muffler. Eventually, the alternator will fail as well as the fuel pump, the water pump, and the air-cottoned compressor; and if we have the vehicle long enough, the last two things which will break down are the transmission and finally the motor.

Even our physical bodies break down until we die. The patriarchs who lived at times over nine hundred years eventually died. Our physical bodies are not designed to live for eternity, and most of us would not want to live forever with a physical body and its limitations.

Thankfully, as life moves forward, those who remain faithful to their calling will receive a new spiritual body which will not break down, but which will last forever. Especially for those of us who are older and are living with bodies that are breaking down, that is very good news. We will have a body that is fully productive twenty-four hours a day, and which never runs out of energy. Never feeling tired nor exhausted is really something to look forward to.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – March 3, 2022"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

Two years ago, we began to experience circumstances which have changed the world. Now, the Covid-19 pandemic and governmental restrictions continue to stifle the lives of most of this world’s population. Beyond the hundreds of millions of infections and the millions of deaths, daily living is no longer the “normal” of previous years. We realize of course that the figures might be inflated, as many who had been counted as having died of corona died with corona because of underlying conditions, and that lockdowns and other restrictions contributed to the death of many, as recent research confirms. In any event, the number of people who became sick and died has been staggering.

Certainly, the Church of God has suffered during this time—along with the rest of society. Deaths have occurred and several have been stricken by this infectious disease. Due to governmental lockdowns and other restrictive measures, even the ability to assemble together for weekly Sabbath services or to attend the annual Holy Days, including the Feast of Tabernacles, has been altered and made more challenging. In some areas, even attending on the Sabbath had been prohibited, and Church members had to make a choice as to whom they wanted to obey—God or man.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – February 16, 2022"