Dear Members, Co-Workers and Friends,
A famous Austrian songwriter, composer and singer, Udo Jürgens (1934-2024), wrote many years ago [in 1967] a song which, roughly translated, included the following words:
“In this world where everyone thinks about themselves… in this world where friends are enemies tomorrow, where people are often blinded by hate, and nobody understands each other; in this world where hatred and envy reign, where people wage war without meaning, and where fear beats in all our hearts, we still see a way:… In this world that holds us captive, let’s build our own world out of love.”
Yes, as Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong so famously told us many times, this is a world held captive by Satan the Devil. But there IS a way out. Not in trying to make this a better world, but in working on becoming better people ourselves. We can only do this with God’s help. It has to be of the spirit… a spiritual renewal and change.
God’s annual Fall Holy Days picture earth-shattering events, announcing to us that Christ will return to this war-torn world of hatred, envy and fear, to put an end to it. He will banish Satan and restore God’s government on earth—when freedom and peace reign, hope and safety; when people will learn God’s Way of Life and understand that war is the way of Satan. Without Satan’s hold on people, wars will end.
Today, the people of this world have no peace. They may speak about peace and hope for peace, but the way of peace they don’t know (Romans 3:17). Today, this world knows no love either—God’s true and genuine love. But it will be different once Christ rules this world—and when we will be given the opportunity to rule with and under Him on and over the earth for 1,000 years, and after that, forever and ever.
We need to prepare for that time. We need to understand that war only breeds more wars—and avoid it with all our being. In a way, World War I caused World War II, and World War II will ultimately cause World War III, beginning with Europe’s attack on the USA and the UK and the occupation of Israel, followed by Europe’s attack on China, Russia, Ukraine and other Far Eastern nations, followed by a retaliatory destructive strike by these nations on Europe, and followed by combined futile efforts to defeat Jesus Christ at His return.
Jesus Christ comes back to make an end to the madness of war (Psalm 46:9; Psalm 68:30; Hosea 2:18). He will offer mankind the gift of God’s Holy Spirit—a Spirit of love and joy and peace and hope. With the lead of that Spirit, they will put their swords away (Matthew 26:52; Isaiah 2:4). They will learn to love each other—and love is outgoing concern for the welfare and benefit of the other person. Rather than only being concerned with themselves, they will learn to have concern for others as well.
We in God’s Church are already experiencing a foretaste of this wonderful time, when we reflect
on the events pictured by God’s Fall Holy Days. We understand that we will be in God’s Family, ruling under the Prince of Peace, and in order to qualify for this, we ourselves must be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), seeking peace and pursuing it (1 Peter 3:11) and the things which make for peace (Romans 14:19). When God’s Spirit of love is with and in us, we CAN avoid fulfilling fleshly desires of envy and lust, coveting and killing in war to get what someone else has (James 4:1-2).
Rather, we can be filled with joy when we counsel others to live in peace (Proverbs 12:20). We fully comprehend why God says that our feet are “beautiful” in His sight when we preach the gospel of peace (Romans 10:15) and proclaim peace (Isaiah 52:7). We underhand that we are no longer captives of Satan and his evil world. We, in God’s Church, can indeed build our own world of love amongst ourselves.
Wishing all of you a greatly rewarding and blessed peaceful Festival season of genuine godly love.
In Christ’s service,
Norbert Link