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Dear Brethren and Friends,

My wife and I recently took our youngest son to a mine in a town called Julian close to San Diego. Julian is an old mining town from the late 1870s. We walked through the old mine through a mountainside. Everything in these tunnels was small and cramped. The whole cave system was lit up every 10 feet with electrical wires and lights. During the tour, when we had reached about halfway through the cave system (although there are 3 miles of tunnel under the mountain), the guide told us he wanted us to experience what it would be like to be a miner. No one was allowed to have matches in the caves, so they had to use a small candle inside a sardine can. When he lit the candle, he turned out the lights. The whole cave plunged into darkness and the tiny light from the candle seemed so small and yet it was what they had to work with! At this point, the guide snuffed out the candle and we were surrounded by the darkest dark imaginable. He said that if a miner’s candle went out, they had to find their way back to the entrance to re-light their candle. 

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – January 23, 2025"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

It is at times like this, when the world is engulfed in its holidays, that we, as Christians, do not
belong. For now, we are simply a curiosity for not celebrating Christmas, New Year, or other customs throughout the year.

But the time is coming—it has been prophesied—that true Christians will become the object of persecution, just as Jesus Christ, His apostles and disciples were in their generation (compare John 15:20).

Note what Jesus said would happen at the time of the end (our time):

“‘Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake’” (Matthew 24:9); also, “‘But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake’” (Luke 21:12).

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – December 22, 2024"

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Dear Brethren, Friends and Family, 

The spirit of togetherness and love is something that we experience every year during the Feast of Tabernacles, which was shared and expressed once again this year. 

Even though, due to sickness and diverse frailties, our numbers in the USA were less than in previous years with around 30 in personal attendance, the great outpouring of brotherly kindness and great joy was present. Some participated by viewing our live services over the internet, and communicated with each other over the chat line. This year at the Feast in Tempe, Arizona, we did a fair number of things together, including a game night, a walk at a Desert Botanical Garden, glow-in-the-dark 3D mini golf, talks around the fire pit on the 11th floor, and a dinner with everyone. We enjoyed inspiring and heart-warming special music, including a quartet presentation in German (“Alles Leben strömt aus Dir”) and a choir presentation in English (“Heros and Dreamers”). The overarching messages at the Feast focused on our soon-coming future and what we can do daily to stay strong as we move forward. There was a focus on love for fellow brethren and the need to stay connected. Overall, it was a great Feast physically and spiritually.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – November 22, 2024"

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Dear Members and Friends:

When Jesus Christ was asked by three of His disciples about the future and the sign of His coming and the end of this present age, He responded by warning them not to be deceived.

At first, He was addressing His disciples who were alive at that time (Matthew 24:4: “Take heed that no one deceives YOU”), and indeed, by the time Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians, many had already begun to believe a false gospel (Galatians 1:6-8), and by the time he wrote the second letter to the Corinthians, many had begun to believe in another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4).

But Christ did not limit His warning to the disciples of the early New Testament Church of the first generation; He kept repeating the fact that throughout history, many would be deceived (Matthew 24:11), and that in the end time, the love of God would grow cold in many Church members (verse 12). And that even the very elect could be affected, if possible (verse 24).

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – September 30, 2024"

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Dear Members and Friends:

On August 2, I received an emotional phone call from my older brother that his wife had died at the hospital after she had broken her hip. It was not until a little over a week later that he called again and I was able to get the details as to what had actually happened. She was taking treatments for cancer at the hospital that day and after the treatments, while still in the hospital, she felt nauseated, fell and broke her hip. They took her to the ICU and were in the process of assessing exactly how to proceed when she died. My brother was in the hallway at the time, talking to his daughter.

After I had started writing this letter, news reached us that our beloved Margaret Adair had died of a sudden massive heart attack on August 23. She had been taken to the hospital by ambulance, and they tried, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate her twice. Norbert and Johanna Link were able to see her just before the ambulance took her, but while waiting outside the emergency room together with Margaret’s son, daughter-in-law and her two grandchildren, the doctor came out and told them the shocking and unexpected news. Margaret will be buried in Ireland next to her late husband, Evangelist Colin Adair. Brian Gale will be conducting the funeral service in Belfast. Later, we will be having a memorial service in California. More details will be forthcoming.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – September 9, 2024"

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Dear Brethren and Friends, 

When I was just out of college and working my first full-time job, I secured an American Express card. It was not that I needed another way to spend money that I did not have. I had been advised by my parents of the importance of building my credit score. Basically, this is a record of how well one does with repaying small expenditures purchased on credit. I recall clearly the tag line that Amex used: Membership has its Privileges.

I was pleased that I had qualified for the familiar green and white plastic card. I saw it as a symbol that I had grown up and joined the ranks of the labor force. In the years since signing up with American Express, my wife and I had to pay a fee each year to renew. Even though it really no longer made sense to keep the card, the little Member since 1981 note on the card made me nostalgic for the days when that card was my only way aside from cash to charge a meal or make a larger purchase. 

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – August 9, 2024"

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Dear Brethren and Friends, 

Living in Colorado, I frequently see air quality alerts in the weather app on my phone. The source of air quality problems varies throughout the year, depending on what is happening in the environment. Normally these alerts indicate that the air pollution originates from automobile emissions, pollen, ozone, or smoke, among other things. They all affect the quality of the air in ways that can make it hard for people to breathe, especially for those who are sensitive to contamination in the air.

Most of the time, the degradation of air quality is imperceptible through our senses. We cannot see or smell the problems in the air, unless there’s heavy smoke from nearby forest fires. However, quality problems are there, and they affect anyone who breathes.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – July 23, 2024"

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Dear Brethren and Friends,

Continually doing the Work of God by effectively preaching the Gospel and feeding the flock is our ongoing goal. However, a few questions have come up in addition to this purpose. What sets us apart from all the rest? How do our efforts differ from other Church of God groups? Are we that much different? 

We have consistently expressed the importance of unity in our organization, especially during our annual conferences when doctrinal topics are addressed, as well as other methods to continue and improve our efforts in continuing the Work for the very goal of speeding up the return of Jesus Christ to establish His Kingdom on earth. The work that we do NOW will benefit all of mankind when they will later have the opportunity to understand what their potential is, what we in the Church understand now. Our purpose is not to make this current world a better place, for the only One who could do that is Jesus Christ when He returns. Until that happens, we have a specific job to do. 

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – June 12, 2024"

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Dear Brethren,

We recently observed Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, and one lesson from that time continues to firmly resonate with me. It is succinctly summarized in 2 Corinthians 13:5:

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” [margin: “do not stand the test”].

What does it mean to have Jesus Christ in us? For one thing, it means that we have eternal life—begotten (not yet born) of God by His Holy Spirit. As Romans 8:9-11 explains, we have both the Spirit of the Father and of Christ:

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit [which] dwells in you.”

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – May 13, 2024"

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Dear Members and Friends,

Often, in our monthly letter, we make mention about deteriorating world conditions which are inevitably leading to the much-anticipated return of Jesus Christ. As we see prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes, it is inevitable that we yearn for the time just ahead of us to replace the 6,000 years failure of man’s rule on this earth. Everywhere we look are problems of man’s own making and we are admonished to pray for the return of Jesus Christ and His future millennial rule on this earth.

In the model prayer as outlined by Jesus in both Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2, we read that we are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come. In addition, we are also told: “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). These prayers are part and parcel of our Way of Life as we approach the end of this age.

Continue reading "Letter to the Brethren – April 7, 2024"