Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ,
Greetings from Charlotte, NC! Are we really in America’s “last days”? Certainly, nearly everyone recognizes that we are in a horrific financial crisis. We are so much indebted that our children and grandchildren will probably be unable to pay our national debt even during coming decades. Our national credit rating has been lowered by Standard and Poor’s—one of the most respected credit rating agencies in the world. Massive floods have ruined hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of grain and other crops up and down the Missouri River. And now, in the southwestern part of the United States, the record breaking drought continues. Because of the political infighting and uncertainty in our leadership, a sense of national malaise is increasing among the entire American population. People are now uncertain about the direction our country is taking.
Over in Britain, we have witnessed a remarkable outbreak of rioting, looting and hooliganism on a scale never before experienced in the United Kingdom. Newspaper writers and editorialists are asking all kinds of questions about why. Many of the people and even leaders there are beginning to grasp that their attempt to be “politically correct”—and their “multicultural” and “universal care” society—is not working. In fact, the society is slowly but surely coming apart. One of our own members sent me an email about this just yesterday. This London resident stated, “I am disgusted at these thugs. If I hadn’t been in the church I think I would definitely be out marching against them… urghh… they should drop them all off in Afghanistan!! Children shall be their oppressors eh??” So it seems that the “beginning of sorrows” has certainly been escalating in Ephraim and Manasseh! Maybe it will help some few people to actually “wake up”!
British papers, of course, are full of news and comments about the massive rioting that has spread over most of Britain in the last few days. The Daily Mail reported, “Over the past month, even an economic illiterate with half a brain could have seen this economic meltdown coming…. A woeful lack of leadership across the Western world is making a perilous situation worse. Markets hate uncertainty and they sense no one is in control. German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy are in denial about the true scale of the debt problem…. Italy’s clownish premier Silvio Berlusconi has allowed his nation’s debt to reach 120 per cent of GDP … and Spain is blighted by impotence pending an election next month. President Obama, having thrown a trillion dollars into a failed bid to stimulate growth, has largely retreated to the White House and seems interested only in being re-elected. And here [in Great Britain], our political masters… ignored the crisis for weeks before the Commons broke for summer… The situation cries out for leadership—for someone with foresight and willpower to take the initiative” (“A world crying out for strong leadership,” August 8, 2011).
Therefore, dear friends, even these British writers and editors sense a massive problem—a tremendous lack of leadership—beginning to take root in the Western world. For those of us who take the Bible seriously, it is obvious that the entire world is literally “crying out” for God’s intervention—for the Kingdom of God to come. Of course, the vast majority even of professing Christians do not take the Bible literally. They do not believe in a real personal God—the Creator and Ruler of the entire universe.
But untold millions are beginning to wonder about “what is going on.” They ask, “Why are these things happening?” Dear brethren and co-workers, it is our job to help these people begin to understand the supreme purpose which is being worked out here on earth. We need to help them understand that there are genuine answers to the questions in their hearts. They—and all of us—must understand that God is not trying to “save everyone” at this time! Although so many Protestant evangelists seem to picture God as a sort of sad-looking hound dog slowly following people around and wishing that He could somehow get them “saved,” the real God of the Bible is not doing any such thing!
Rather, the true God—the God most people know very little about—has deliberately allowed Satan the Devil to “blind” people to the Truth. As the Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Truly, my friends, your Bible explains again and again that the vast majority of human beings are blinded to God’s Truth and to the very purpose for their lives. The Apostle John warned about the soon-coming end-time “Spirit Wars,” “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).
Please remember, Jesus Himself stated, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). You may look around and wonder: “Why are all these terrible things happening?” Yet you who are being called can come to understand that it is God’s purpose to let mankind go its own way for about 6,000 years. Then, the Eternal God will send Jesus back as King of kings: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Revelation 11:15).
Meanwhile, all true Christians are right now “in training” to assist Jesus Christ in ruling over this earth in His coming Kingdom. “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ — as I also have received from My Father” (Revelation 2:26-27). Truly, dear friends and brethren, we must yield to Jesus Christ and let Him fully live His life within us so we can have the character to assist Him in ruling the world and bringing genuine peace and joy during the entire Millennium soon to come! In the famous “Song of the Saints” in Revelation 5:10, Almighty God specifically tells us our future role, “And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” Notice that the true saints are not “up in heaven,” but on this earth! Again, we are now “in training” to learn God’s ways—to teach God’s laws—and to assist Christ in the very real responsibility of ruling over the cities and kingdoms of this world, right here where the trouble is! This is the message God is giving us throughout the entire Bible. Notice that in the parable of the “nobleman,” who went off to heaven to receive a kingdom and returned, Christ rewards the faithful servants by saying, “Well done, good servant, because you were faithful over very little, have authority over ten cities” (Luke 19:17). Is the coming Kingdom or Government of God over this earth becoming “very real” to you as you read our literature and study your own Bible?
Again, God’s inspired Word tells Christians through the Apostle Paul, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). In a very few years, the true saints of God will indeed “judge” or rule this world under Jesus Christ as King of kings. In addition, since angels were created by God as “ministering spirits” to His saints (Hebrews 1:14), those very saints—now “born” as full sons of God—will “judge” or rule over the angels and guide them in their activities as they assist us in the various responsibilities of bringing peace and order to this confused world. All this is just ahead!
Dear friends, each of us needs to “catch the vision” and genuinely prepare to learn God’s laws, to learn God’s Government, and do our part to build the total Christian character to fit us to rule this world under Jesus Christ when He returns! We have an awesome challenge and opportunity. And, even before Christ returns, we are called upon now by our coming Head and Ruler to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
Matthew’s inspired account states the Great Commission in this way, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). So the “Good News” is not only about Christ and His death and resurrection, but also about how He is coming again! It is about His coming “Kingdom” or Government on this earth, and the awesome opportunity you and I have to be a vital part of this Government and help Christ straighten out the horrible mess on this earth today! Our opportunity is wonderful—the opportunity and joy we can experience in wiping away tears from the eyes of millions of human beings begins by healing them, blessing them, teaching them God’s way and giving them real peace and joy for the first time in many of their lives. This opportunity is truly magnificent!
So let us all “get involved” in proclaiming the message of Christ’s soon-coming Government! Let us truly go all out in proclaiming this message to a mixed up, confused and warring world. Let us let God know that we are truly willing to “seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Let’s get busy, dear brethren and friends, for we have a tremendous Work to do and each of us needs to do our part with all our hearts and minds.
With Christian love,
Roderick C. Meredith
P.S. More Good News! We’ve just been informed that another “door” has opened to proclaim Christ’s Message to Britain and Europe! BELIEVE-TV is set to begin airing Tomorrow’s World on B-Sky-B on channel 596 and Eurobird on Sunday, August 28, at 10:00 a.m. British time.