Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ,
Greetings from Charlotte, NC! Are we in for the most violent springtime in recent memory? Shakespeare wrote of the ancient Roman “Ides of March!” This may have been meant to invoke the ancient biblical principle where the scriptures indicate that in the springtime nations went to war.
Regardless, this March to July period looks to be a very dangerous time in the Middle East! Britain’s The Independent newspaper just headlined, “ Military strike is only way to stop Iran, says top Israeli strategist. A top Israeli strategic analyst says armed force is the only way to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons if the international community does not impose effective sanctions. Zvi Shtauber, director of Tel-Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, was speaking last night after the Foreign Ministry denied a report in The Sunday Times that Israeli pilots were already training to strike three targets with low-yield nuclear weapons…. But Mr. Shtauber said: ‘Experience shows that it is very hard to stop a state which is determined to build nuclear weapons’” (January 8, 2007).
The Jews lost about six million of their people in Hitler’s Holocaust. The emotional refrain, “Never again!” resonates very powerfully with these people who have suffered so terribly. As former Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated on American television, “We must take some action since our very survival is at stake!”
Meanwhile, dozens of news reports are indicating that Iran is very heavily involved in financing, training and encouraging terrorists in Iraq, who are deliberately trying to sabotage our efforts to bring about a western style democracy there. As The Washington Times reported, “‘Al-Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards is stepping up terrorism and encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq,’ says Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy Consulting in Washington, an Iranian dissident who keeps close contact with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MeK. It was Mr. Jafarzadeh who first revealed the existence of the Islamic Republic’s clandestine nuclear sites in Natanz and Arakin August 2002…. They secretly build improvised explosive devises, or IEDs, train, finance and arm an extensive terrorist network in Iraq, says Mr. Jafarzadeh. ‘Iran’s goal is to create insecurity in Iraq and compel the coalition forces to leave in order to establish an Islamic Republic in Iraq’” (January 9, 2007).
An “Islamic Republic” in Iraq?
My friends, that is a lot more likely to happen than President Bush’s goal of “democracy” for much of the Middle East! As I have been telling you for the last few years, these Muslims have had no experience with democracy. They are accustomed to authoritarian rule and their idea of “Allah’s will” plays very heavily into their approach to politics—much more than President Bush or his advisors seem to realize. So the real future of the Middle East will not be “democratic.” Rather, a continuing series of violent incidents, wars and strife will affect that region until the return of Jesus Christ.
Underscoring this, a huge buildup of American air and sea power in the Middle East is now underway. As the DEBKA file reported on January 4, 2007, “The USS John C. Stennis strike group will this month join the USS Dwight Eisenhower aircraft carrier group and USS Boxer strike force in the Persian Gulf ‘as a warning to Syria and Iran’ in face of acts seen as provocative, and to give commanders more flexibility in the region. Continuation of Iran’s banned nuclear activities would come under the heading of ‘provocative.’ This is the second buildup of US naval, air and marine strength in the strategic waterway in four months. Deployment of the Stennis group puts a total of 16,000 US sailors in the region as well as another nuclear carrier and 7 escort warships, 10 air squadrons, 2 submarines and helicopters to support amphibious landings on enemy soil. DEBKA file’s military experts see in the new deployment evidence that President George W. Bush has rejected the key Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group’s recommendation to engage Iran and Syria for an exit strategy on Iraq. He has instead come down finally behind his own fundamental conviction that the Iraq war is winnable and Iran can be simultaneously confronted.”
Did you catch that last phrase? “Iran can be simultaneously confronted”!
This massive array of US weaponry is probably in the region not only to help stabilize the situation in Iraq. It may well be sent there because a powerful strike against Iran’s nuclear sites is coming—soon!
Jesus Christ’s prophecies indicate that we should watch the Middle East. After describing the specific end-time prophetic events leading up to His Second Coming—including another conquest of Jerusalem by a Gentile power—Jesus instructed His followers, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). So all of us who have real wisdom and understanding should be praying—and doing our part in preparing for the soon-coming Kingdom of God. We in this Work are certainly going “all out” to do that very thing!
I am delighted to report to you that the living Christ has blessed this Work more than ever during this last year. Here is a report from Mr. Wayne Pyle, our Media Coordinator, sharing what has been happening:
“The year 2006 was by far the best year yet for the Tomorrow’s World telecast in reaching literally millions of new viewers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This past year the Living Church of God was not only able to add a new presenter, Mr. Wallace Smith, and a guest presenter, Mr. Rod King, but was also able to acquire air time on 35 new TV stations in the United States and major additional satellite coverage over the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, northern Africa and the Middle East.
Based on the latest statistics from the TV industry, the Tomorrow’s World program, in just this past year, was viewed at least one time by two million additional households in the United States, bringing the total US household count who have seen the program to 9.9 million since our start-up in January 1999. Each and every week now, literally hundreds of thousands of people are watching the Tomorrow’s World telecast, and the outlook for the year 2007 is even better! Already, in less than two weeks into 2007, we have added four more new TV stations and networks.
Just yesterday we began airing on the CH TV network across Canada, and, in about a week from now, on January 18, we begin airing on a major international cable-satellite network called the WORD Network. We believe Jesus Christ is the One opening and closing media doors according to His will, as Jesus Himself so clearly declares in Revelation 3:8—‘I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.’
Jesus Christ’s promise in Revelation 3:8 was startlingly apparent this past week, as our contract with the Inspiration Network was coming to an end on February 4. Astonishingly, a new opening miraculously became available on the WORD Network for only a fraction of the cost of the Inspiration Network, but the WORD Network reaches far more TV households than Inspiration. In the United States alone the WORD Network reaches 42 million homes—38 percent of all American TV households—and internationally, via four world-girdling satellites, it reaches an additional 100-million-plus homes in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Central America and South America. This is simply a huge breakthrough for the Living Church of God. This new network, beginning on January 18, will easily help us reach our 10 millionth home, and many more millions in months to come!
Worldwide the Tomorrow’s World telecast generated more than 200,000 TV responses in the past 12 months—a huge 28 percent increase over the previous year! TV response in Australia generated a whopping 26 percent increase, in New Zealand the nationwide telecast produced a 22 percent jump over a year ago, and in North America the increase was up 28 percent as well. And, most heartening, fully 50 percent of the respondents each week are brand new—many having never heard of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong! In church services this past weekend, I was with Mr. Meredith as he greeted two brand new attendees. They found out about the Living Church of God from the Tomorrow’s World telecast here in Charlotte. When he asked the ladies if they had ever heard of Mr. Armstrong, both shook their heads, saying no. They had never heard of him. Regardless, both believed they had finally found a true Bible-teaching television program and the true Bible-based church. Both ladies were very happy about attending the Living Church of God church services, and both said they would be coming back. They have been actively searching and visiting many churches over the past two years, as no doubt many others are, and they believe God has finally led them to His true church.”
Dear brethren and co-workers, as prophetic events truly begin to speed up, we really do need to go all out to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Yet Jesus Christ Himself warned that many would let down and become lukewarm in these last days, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35). May God help each of us stir ourselves to do our very best to assist His Work while we have the opportunity. As the time approaches for Jesus’ return to this earth as King of kings, He is carefully “watching” each of us to see how much our hearts are truly in His Work.
With Christian love,
Roderick C. Meredith