As this Update (#872) is being published and sent out, many of those faithful to the Word of God will have already observed the Passover, the first of God’s annual Feasts. This will be followed by the Feast of Unleavened bread, which contains the first two of God’s commanded annual Holy Days. These, and those Holy Days and Feasts which follow throughout the year, portray the plan of mankind’s salvation. The ultimate focus is on the role God gave to Jesus Christ in making this plan possible. This is why God the Father sent His Son into the world, and Jesus confirmed this: “‘I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was’” (John 17:4-5; also, verses 24-25). The “work” which Jesus “finished” represented two major accomplishments. First He qualified as the Messiah. The Apostle John wrote of the mission given to Jesus: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). Jesus said of Himself: “‘…I did […]

The gods of this world go by many names and they belong to many religions. They have different origin stories and mythologies surrounding them. They each have purported special powers to allegedly influence the lives of their followers, for better or worse. And each of those gods figuratively competes for the top post, positioned above the others. Yet, there is only one true God, who puts all others to shame. Since you are reading this editorial, there’s a strong likelihood that you proclaim your god to be the one true God; the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and all that lives upon it; the God who blessed Abraham because of his obedience; the God who is a Family, consisting of the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ; the God whose plan involves increasing His Family to include as many of mankind as will obey Him. If this is the one whom you proclaim to be your God, you do well. However, merely claiming that He is our God is not enough. Do our actions prove it? The question of who our God is can be answered by observing whom we serve. Is the one we serve the same as the […]

Is everything going well in your life? Or do you encounter trials and do you struggle with problems and obstacles? I dare to say, you do! And you would not be alone! The question is, How do you deal with setbacks? Do you view them as just being temporary and passing, or permanent and lasting? When God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush and announced that He would use Moses to free Israel from Egyptian slavery, Moses did not believe him. So God convinced him through a set of miracles that it would happen as declared, and finally Moses reluctantly followed God’s command and returned to Egypt. God told Moses very clearly that there would first be obstacles—Pharaoh would not let Israel go until he was forced to do so by a mighty hand. God even told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt (Exodus 7:3). When Moses still doubted that the Israelites would believe him, God also told him that the elders of Israel would listen to Moses (Exodus 3:18), and this is exactly what occurred at first (Exodus 4:29-31). But then things did not go […]

God specifies the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. It consists of a number of components which, considered as a whole, make up this fruit, and actually are characteristics that everyone who has God’s Spirit will display in their lives to one degree or another. The second component of this fruit is joy. So, what is joy? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines joy as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” This implies that when things are going well, or expected to go well, we can be joyful. There are many examples in the Bible of people expressing joy. Two of them are in the book of Ezra. This was a time when the temple had finally been finished after a great amount of local opposition and around twenty years since King Cyrus had made his decree that the temple was to be rebuilt. It was also a time between a little over a month before the Passover, and just after the Passover. Ezra 6:16 states: “Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of […]

In his “State of the Union Address” last month, US President Donald Trump raised the issue of abortion. Taken, word for word, from his speech, he said the following: “Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the Governor of Virginia where he basically stated he would execute a baby after birth. “To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb. Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God.” When I heard the examples he raised, my blood boiled, but that was not the end of it. When he said this to a joint session of the United States Congress, one side of the chamber rose […]

For years I have run an online business on one of the large internet sales platforms. One of the important factors of my business deals with the customer rating of my past performance.  I not only receive monetary benefits from a high rating but it helps potential customers understand my selling history and honesty. It is easy to see the results from my actions, because I am incentivized to be successful. This has built-in motivation to excel in performance. There is nothing wrong with this kind of goal but this accomplishment, along with all other physical pursuits, is not lasting. As Christians, it is critically important that we do not let these kinds of physical desires become the end-all in our daily lives. We must strive for something greater, something that the world sees as a closed-minded rejection of “enlightened” understanding. We must, by worldly standards, become fools if we are to please God. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). The world is brimming with the proud. Whether […]

The power to withstand something challenging defines the word endurance. This is what God had in mind when He chose specific people to fulfill His purpose; when He called people out of this world to an understanding of His plan that only He could reveal to those who answered His calling.  An everlasting commitment of obedience is the requirement to obtain everlasting life while also ruling with God the Father and Jesus Christ, as part of their Family, here on earth in the Kingdom of God, in the coming time ahead (compare Matthew 19:17; 2 Timothy 2:12; Romans 8:7; Revelation 20:4-6). This tremendous calling, however, shouldn’t be taken lightly and for granted; rather, it requires obedient effort, perseverance and endurance until the end. “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). We will be blessed when we endure UNTIL the end.  This is a life-long commitment of living God’s Way of Life. If we have chosen to live this Way, by keeping ALL of His commandments, taken the necessary steps to becoming truly baptized, then we […]

Many years ago, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be mightily blessed. That same promise was passed on to Isaac and his son Jacob and their generations (Genesis 15:1-21; 22:15-18; 26:1-5; 49:1-28; Hebrews 11:17-22). Those blessings came to fruition. The United States of America and the British Commonwealth were two of the greatest nations or groups of nations that ever ruled on this earth. God saw to it that they were well taken care of. They both led the industrial revolution. They invented incredible and amazing things. They possessed some of the greatest natural resources known to man. They won many battles and conquered many lands. And yet, we find today the United States with a debt deficit of 22 trillion dollars. Some analysts say while that number is on paper, it is more likely that the debt is actually around 70 trillion. We see the great debacle of the British people attempting to leave the EU with a “great deal,” and coming woefully shy of doing so. A number of companies are already leaving the UK and there could be many more in the future, including many of the financial services that once did massive amounts of business […]

We may experience a degree of frustration when we don’t see, from time to time, much numerical growth in God’s Church. There is growth in numbers in the German-speaking areas, but this is not necessarily the case today in other countries such as the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom. What we have to bear in mind is that Christ is the Head of His Church, and God adds members to the Church according to His will and His pre-ordained plan for this time and age. Furthermore, growth can be measured in more than one manner. There is physical numerical growth of new members being added to the Church, and there is spiritual growth in grace, knowledge and understanding. God warns us that in these end times, many members will be part of the Laodicea era. He challenges all of us to be zealous and on fire. Our Church group is small by comparison. We are truly a little flock. But what is most important to God? Does He delight in a large group of half-hearted, compromising individuals easily distracted by the cares of this world and delving in areas not related to the commission of the Church? No! […]

Careful! We must not become too accustomed to what we see, hear or even experience that is evil—for God condemns all of this! It is sin! This past couple of weeks the issue of abortion was front and center in US news. The State of New York passed a law to further decriminalize abortions done in later stages of pregnancy. What was so shocking was the reaction of those gathered to celebrate the signing of this bill. Their jubilant cheering and applause for what constitutes murder was, in actual fact, a tribute to unconscionable evil! The words of God stand in judgment for this kind of abomination: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). Evil is an insidious and virulent contamination which is overwhelming the way people think and act—leaving them with seared consciences and more and more open to demonic influence or control (compare 1 Timothy 4:1-2). This is why the Apostle John warned that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Satan is called “the god of this […]