Download PDF 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. On Friday, after the reading of the Minutes, regional summaries were given. Following, we had a wide-ranging discussion about our Internet activities: literature views and requests; accomplishments from our monthly Tech Meetings; Live Services broadcasting issues (which, by the way, have improved through the purchase of newer equipment—but more to do in that regard); new advertising campaigns; and alternatives to YouTube in case our […]

Download PDF 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). Before Christ instituted the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread at the time of Moses, He poured out ten plagues on Egypt. While the first three plagues also affected the Israelites, the subsequent seven plagues did not. Especially the Passover provided physical protection from the tenth plague—the death of the firstborn. When Christ changed […]

Download PDF 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 […]

Download PDF 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 […]

Download PDF Dear Members and Friends, We live in a world of changes. Ever since we were conceived, things have been changing.  Nothing stays the same, and nothing goes back to the way it was. We live in the present moments that are happening—not in the past and not in the future. Everything is now!  Solomon reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun. Were there computers or cars in his day? No! What he is trying to convey is that the thoughts of men, the things that are done, “new” things, “new” ideas coming into being, are all but of the same vein.  When God stopped the building of the tower of Babel, it always interested me that He said in Genesis 11:6:  “And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.’” The power and ability to learn, grow and create things is something that God placed within mankind. This power has not stopped.  But at what cost? Man was not allowed to proceed then because otherwise God’s plan would have […]