I was born in the city of Derby. I have lived there most of my life. Derby is a city in the Midlands of England and in the county of Derbyshire. This county is one of the most beautiful counties in the United Kingdom with rolling hills, dales, pasture, rivers and historical stately homes that reflect the green and pleasant land of Great Britain. Derby is a city of about 250,000 inhabitants and famous as the home of Rolls Royce.

Derby is hardly a hotbed of political radicalism. However, it did very recently receive unwanted attention. With the war in Iraq, retaliation was expected in different parts of the world with places like London and New York being prime targets. Israel has also long been a target of suicide bombers. On Wednesday, April 30, carnage was the result of a suicide bomber at Mike’s Place, a beachfront bar, in Tel Aviv. Three people were killed and sixty people wounded. One bomber blew himself to pieces and the other, Omar Khan Sharif, according to press reports, managed to escape when his explosive device did not detonate.

How many know that this person, who immediately became the most wanted man in Israel, came from Derby? He had lived just a street or two away from where my parents and I lived many years ago, before I was married. I now live about 5 miles from that area. The locals, when interviewed for television, radio and the press, just couldn’t believe that such a quiet individual could be responsible for such an outrage.

We sometimes think that all these events occur in, and that all these type of criminals come from the big cities and the well known areas. Don’t you believe it! If suicide bombers can come from the Midlands of England, they can come from anywhere! We may think that as we live in a quiet backwater (if indeed we do), we are safe from the excesses of fanatics. However, if such people can be produced in our relatively small community in Derby, they can be produced anywhere!

How close is close? Too close for comfort! This recent suicide bombing is also a stark reminder that we approach the end of this age. As we do, there will be no hiding place — anywhere in the world — not even in little places that we consider backwaters.

Omar Khan Sharif, the failed suicide bomber from Derby, has brought to the attention of the local community that these sort of people can live in our midst, although we might not realize it. How many more fanatics will rear their ugly heads in our small communities in the future?

We have to understand that our safety and refuge do not depend on local or state policing, security guards, government edicts, or the military, but on our great Creator God. Psalm 46:1 tells us, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” Let us never forget our real source of help, however close trouble may be. Our security, survival and protection depend on our faith in our great God and in His promises. Things will get worse and outrages such as the one in Tel Aviv will increase. Let us never forget where our protection truly lies — protection that will become ever more necessary as the weeks and months pass by.
 

We have just finished celebrating Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. These feast days reminded us of our commitment to God the Father and Jesus Christ. We renewed our relationship with God at Passover, accepting and claiming the great sacrifice that is bringing about the forgiveness of our sins. We continued to walk in God’s way by, symbolically, removing from our lives the leaven of sin during the seven days of Unleavened Bread, as we had physically removed all leaven from our homes. The number seven pictures completeness – the symbolism of seven days shows us the need to eradicate sin completely. We realize, of course, that we cannot do that without God’s help. God, though, offers and provides us with this help – through the gift of His Holy Spirit.

Now, we look down the road to the next Holy Day, the Day of Pentecost. There is a strong connection between the Passover season and the Feast of Pentecost. During the Passover season, we renew our commitment by counting the cost of living a Godly life. At the same time, we start quite literally to count fifty days, beginning with the Sunday following the weekly Sabbath after the First Day of Unleavened Bread. On that Sunday, the wave sheaf offering was waved in ancient Israel. This is quite symbolic, as it pictures Christ’s ascension to heaven on that very day, being accepted by God the Father. Christ was resurrected from the dead on the Sabbath, just before sunset, but He ascended to heaven on Sunday morning, exactly at the same time when the priest waived the wave sheaf offering. Fifty days later, we reach the Feast of Pentecost. That is where the name “Pentecost” comes from – it means “counting fifty.”

God the Father accepted Christ as the first of the firstfruits. Since Christ is the first of the firstfruits, who are the other firstfruits? We know, of course, that Christ’s Church comprises the other firstfruits. It is interesting that the Feast of Pentecost is also called the Feast of Firstfruits – it is focusing on the collective spiritual body of Christ who were called and still will be called to salvation prior to Christ’s return.

There is another strong connection between the Passover and the Pentecost seasons – having to do with the process of conversion. Conversion starts with God’s calling and enlightening of our minds, followed by repentance and faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ, baptism and the laying on of hands. After that, God bestows on us the gift of His Spirit. Applying this to the symbolism attached to the Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, we have, during the Passover season, gone through the requirements, spiritually speaking, of repentance and baptism. In looking forward to Pentecost, we are approaching the event of receiving of the Holy Spirit. The Festival of Pentecost does, of course, remind us of the time when God bestowed His Holy Spirit on the collective body of the Church. God gave the Holy Spirit so that the disciples could keep the law more perfectly.

Historically, God spoke to Moses and ancient Israel the Law of the Ten Commandments on the day of Pentecost. At that time, there was a tremendous display of God’s awesome power and magnitude, so much so that the Israelites told Moses, “You talk to God.” They were afraid of talking to God themselves (Exodus 20:18-19).

The New Testament Church began in 31 AD on the Day of Pentecost. We can read the account in Acts 2. When God gave the Holy Spirit, He saw to it that there would also be a mighty display of signs and wonders – as had been the case when the law was declared to ancient Israel. In 31 AD, there were also unusual events – the sound of a mighty wind, flames of fire resting on the disciples, the ability of the many foreigners assembled in Jerusalem to hear the disciples speak in their own language, and of course Peter’s inspired moving sermon causing 3000 people to repent, believe in Christ’s sacrifice, and get baptized on that very same day (Acts 2:41).

God saw to it that great signs and a powerful witness of the power of the Holy Spirit accompanied the giving of His Holy Spirit. He made it clear for all times that man NEEDS this power in order to be able to overcome, to remain in the grace of God, and to finally conquer sin. In addition, all who have received God’s Holy Spirit have become the begotten children of God, beginning to fulfill what God always wanted to happen. God’s desire is revealed in Rev. 21:3 – God wants to be our God, and that we should become His children.

As we look forward to the Feast of Pentecost, let us be mindful of the fact that we must allow Christ to work in and through us by the power of His Holy Spirit.
 

Hopefully everyone has had a meaningful Passover season and has come out of it with a “high hand” as it were.

But what now? We have started the count down to Pentecost. Is there anything that we can be doing or should be doing?

Now is the time to go from strength to strength by letting the impetus of these past feast days vault us towards the next one.

We have a great opportunity to be really right before God after taking the Passover. We have walked in this world and tried not to be a part of it, but we dirtied our feet. Now they are clean. During the Days of Unleavened Bread we exemplified coming out of sin by putting leaven as well as transgressions out of our lives.

There is no better time than the present to walk in the newness of life as epitomized and embodied by the last day of Unleavened Bread. The best admonition that we can follow comes from Christ and His conversation with the woman caught in adultery and the man at the pool of Bethesda…”sin no more.”

As we struggle against Satan, the world and ourselves in these days preceding the feast of Pentecost, let’s endeavor to walk the walk and to do our utmost to overcome. However, at the same time we should be realizing just how much we need God’s help and the Holy Spirit He has given us… the same Spirit that He gave on Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago.

While the world is engaged in Easter celebrations around this time, members of the Church of God are not. WHY? Why would anyone claiming to be Christian not celebrate the most important festival of the “Christian” world, purportedly memorializing the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ? Simply put, because Easter is neither Christian, nor does it memorialize the death and resurrection of our Savior.

Christ was neither crucified on a Friday, nor was He resurrected on a Sunday. If He had been, He would not be our Savior, as He would not have fulfilled the only sign that He gave for His Messiahship — that is, to be dead and buried in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:38-40). The period from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning does simply NOT constitute 72 hours. The Bible and historical records prove, instead, that Christ was crucified and buried late on Wednesday and that He was resurrected late on Saturday, just before sunset.

What about Easter and its customs? Where did they come from?

“Easter” is the name of the pagan goddess of spring who was worshipped under the names “Eastre” or “Eostre,” “Astarte,” “Ostara,” “Ishtar” and “Istar.” It is from these names that our modern word “Easter” is derived. Especially the name “Ishtar” is associated with the Babylonian “Queen of Heaven.” The egg-laying Easter hare or Easter rabbit and colored Easter eggs were associated, as symbols of fertility, with Eastre, the pagan goddess of spring. Any good encyclopedia will prove the accuracy of these statements.

In addition, the pagans also celebrated at Easter time the passion and resurrection of pagan gods who died on a Friday and came to life again on the following Sunday. Some of these gods are known as Marduk, Attis and Mythra. Again, many history books prove this fact beyond doubt. For example, Arthur Weigall writes in “The Paganism in our Christianity”: “The clergy… could not prevent the people in various countries celebrating the great holiday at Easter in honor of the resurrection of Attis and other gods.” “The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” has this to say about “Attis”: “Attis’ passion was celebrated on the 25th of March, exactly nine months before the festival of his birth, the 25th of December… The day of Attis’ death was black Friday… The god died and was buried. He descended into the underworld. On the third day [a Sunday] he rose again from the dead.”

Have you ever wondered why it is commonly believed — contrary to the Bible — that Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday? Here you have the answer. It’s derived from the worship of the pagan god Attis.

The early Church did not keep Easter. The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. 8, p. 828 confirms that “there is no indication of the observance of the Easter Festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers.” Arthur Weigal and other historians confirm that the Catholic Church adopted pagan festivals such as Easter “to Christian ideas,” rather than suppressing them. Calvin, for example, considered the annual church festival of Easter so paganized that at one point, he did not observe it, either.

Many Scriptures command us not to worship God in the way of the pagans. The Bible also specifically condemns the worship of the “queen of heaven” in Jeremiah 7:18 and other places. The Ryrie Study Bible identifies the queen of heaven with the “Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar” — in other words, with Easter.

Jeremiah 10:2 tells us: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles.” Lamsa states in an annotation that the word “way” describes “religion.” Deuteronomy 12:29-32 commands us not to “inquire after their [that is, pagan] gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way.” The Ryrie Study Bible comments: “The Israelites were not even to inquire about the worship of the Canaanites, lest they be tempted to incorporate aspects of it into their worship of God.”

Who can doubt that modern Christianity has done exactly what God forbids — they have incorporated quite a few pagan aspects into the worship of God, including Easter and its customs and rites. But God says, “You shall NOT worship the LORD your God in that way!”

This is why members of the Church of God do not participate in Easter celebrations. The question is always the same: Whom are we going to obey — GOD or the customs and traditions of man?

The third day of April marked the beginning of a new year according to God’s Sacred Calendar and we are just days from the beginning of God’s spring festival season. The vast majority of people on the earth today are totally ignorant of these days. Many do observe holidays based upon certain ancient pagan practices, yet do not understand that God specifically forbids the observance of those days.

Many in the Church of God, who formerly observed God’s Holy Days, in agreement with Biblical instructions, have since turned from God’s clear instructions and have begun observing the holidays of this world. How can we know we must not follow that example?

We know that God created the Sabbath Day on the seventh day of the week. He blessed the seventh day, sanctified it and commanded that we keep it holy (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11). We also know that God established the annual Holy Days, each in their season, to be observed forever. God states that His Sabbaths are a sign between Him and His people, forever (Exodus 31:13, 17).

We know, also, that it was the custom of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His disciples to keep these days (Luke 2:41-49; Luke 4:16; Matthew 26: 2, 17-18; Acts 2:1). Once the Kingdom of God is established on this earth, everyone will be keeping these days (Zech. 14:16-18).

Our new booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” is hot off the presses and is in the mail to all on our regular mailing list. This booklet is a complete study of these days and shows what God expects of you in relation to them. If you are not receiving our publications on a regular basis, you may request a copy of our new booklet by going to www.eternalgod.org/contact or by writing to:

The Church of the Eternal God
PO Box 270519
San Diego, CA 92198

The current Member Letter was mailed along with our new booklet. There is a link to that letter from this Update. Church members, not able to take Passover with a local congregation, can find a tape of the Passover Service on our website under the AUDIO section.

In lieu of our regular editorial, as a service to any of you who will be unable to observe the Passover with one of our local congregations and will be observing the Passover in your home, we are providing these general instructions for your convenience.

There will be a pre-taped Passover Service available on our Web site (in the AUDIO section) for any who choose to use that service; or, a tape of that service can be provided by mail for those who request it.

–The Ministry of The Church of the Eternal God.

TAKING THE PASSOVER AT HOME

In advance, purchase or prepare a small amount of plain unleavened bread. In most cases you will be able to buy it at the grocery store if you so desire. There are several kinds of unleavened bread, including matzos. But don’t assume all flat bread is unleavened. Check the label to be sure the bread does not contain any leavening (yeast, baking soda, baking powder, etc.).

You will also need a small amount of natural red wine. Be sure you obtain a natural, unfortified wine. Alcohol content will be between 10 and 13%. (Wines containing 19 or 20% alcohol are fortified with brandy and should not be used.) Any natural red wine, such as a cabernet sauvignon, claret or burgundy can be used.

Be prepared to observe the sacred ordinance in the early evening after sunset. This is a special occasion, so provide a clean and neat room with complete privacy if possible. Have a small amount of the unleavened bread, very small glasses of wine (one for each person) prepared on a tray or table. Pour no more than two tablespoons of wine into each small glass.

The Passover includes the foot-washing service, so pans, water, and towels will be needed at the beginning.

When the time has arrived for the ordinance, let those participating in the service quietly come into the room. Older children and unbaptized adults may attend as observers only, if they are genuinely interested in learning about the service. They should not, under any circumstance, partake in the eating of the bread or drinking of the wine. There should be no frivolous talking, laughing or joking, though normal greetings should be exchanged. You are meeting on the most solemn occasion of the year, and should do so reverently.

The leader can remind the others at the start of the service that this is the most solemn and sacred occasion of the year – the anniversary of the death of our Lord and Savior, and a service observed in memory of His sacrifice. The one conducting the service should open the Bible and read Luke 22:7-8 and verses 13-15. Then go to Matthew 26:17 and verses 26-30, followed by Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. Next read John 6:53-54, pointing out that this is commanded for all Christians. Then, read John 13:1-17, concerning the foot-washing.

Then, if two or more people are participating, wash one another’s feet. If one person is observing it alone, this part of the ordinance is omitted.

The pans and towels can be removed if necessary.

(At this point, scriptures concerning the bread may be repeated if desired.)

Next, the one conducting the service will give thanks and ask God in prayer to bless the bread as a symbol of Christ’s physical body, broken for us, showing that His sacrifice covers our physical infirmities and makes healing available to us (cite 1 Peter 2:24). Then, break the bread into small bits and pass it around. Each worshiper should quietly eat one small piece of the bread, reflecting on its significance.

(Scriptures concerning the wine may be repeated here if desired.)

Then, over the wine, the leader will pray, giving thanks and asking God to bless it to this sacred use as the symbol of Christ’s blood shed for the remission of our sins. Next pass the wine, and let each participant take a glass and quietly, reverently drink it as a renewal of his acceptance of the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

The leader should then read aloud from John 13:31 through John 17. These are the words Jesus spoke to His disciples after His last Passover supper with them, just before He was arrested and crucified. Since it is rather long, the leader may, in advance of the service, mark certain portions of these chapters, instead of reading every verse.

After the scripture reading, sing a hymn before exiting, just as Christ and the disciples did (cite Matthew 26:30). Then dismiss quietly, leaving the room without undue conversation.

After the service has ended and the worshipers have left the room, the one in charge should burn any portion of the bread and wine left over from the service, which had earlier been consecrated by prayer for this special use only.

In Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1, Solomon records that “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.”

This section ends in verse 8 adding that there is “A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.”

How does this apply to Christians–especially as this world is engaged in a “time of war”?

First, let’s consider a warning from Jesus Christ that He left for those of us who live at the end of this age: “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Yet, for those who follow Christ, this must be “a time to love”. If we are to be a light to those around us, then above all things we must show this fruit of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. In the closing hours of His life, Jesus spoke to His disciples (and us): ” ‘By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ ” (John 13:35). Continuing in John 15, verse 12, Jesus says: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Later on in the events leading to His sacrifice for the reconciling of the world to the Father, Jesus spoke to Pilate showing that this was not a time for Him–or His disciples–to fight and make war: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36).

Our “time to hate” is not directed at this world–a world that God so loved that He gave His Son (Cp. John 3:16). However, we also are to understand that there are things which God hates. He hates sin. He hates those activities which might destroy one of His future sons. In Revelation 2:6, Jesus addressed the church of Ephesus and complimented their valiant zeal to withstand wrong doctrines: “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”Christians are to hate what God hates

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, extols the role of love in a Christian’s life. Alongside the various fruits of God’s Spirit, love is foremost: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (verse 13). This kind of love which is imparted through God’s Holy Spirit is the embodiment of righteousness. James, the brother of Jesus Christ, shows that the kind of righteousness that is based on love will bring Christians peace: “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18).

Christians are taught to love by God Himself. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Continuing in verse 16, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.”

As we both see and experience the dramatic events of prophecy now being fulfilled, there is something we can and must do. In the quotation from Matthew 24, verse 12, it says that the love of “many” will grow cold, but NOT ALL. As Solomon said, “to everything there is a season,” and the season for Christians is as it has always been, “a time to love!”
 

From time to time, we may think that all is hopeless. When ancient Judah was in captivity, they could not see that there might still be in store for them any hope for a better life. God, however, inspired the prophet Jeremiah to write, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

God offers all of us hope. In fact, the entire physical creation, presently subject to decay, is awaiting “in hope” our transformation to glory (Romans 8:20-21). Do we have the same hope that even — in a figurative sense — God’s creation has? Are our actions motivated by that hope — even and especially in times of trials and perceived “hopelessness”?

Paul was inspired by that hope — the “hope of the promise” that “God raises the dead.” (Acts 26:6-8). Even in times of suffering and persecution, Paul “rejoiced” in the hope of the glory of God — the hope to obtain God’s glory (Romans 5:2). Paul even gloried in his trials, knowing that they would ultimately produce even more “hope” (Romans 5:3-4). He was, of course, talking about the right kind of hope — a hope that does not disappoint, because God’s love is abiding in us (Romans 5:5). It is because of the love that God has for us, that we can have hope for a better future.

Paul knew that God only wants the best for us. If God allows us to go through trials, He does so because He loves us, knowing that we have need of correction (Hebrews 12:5-6) and perseverance (Romans 8:24-25). God loved us so much that He was willing to give His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that we could obtain the hope of eternal life (John 3:16). With that kind of love, we know that God only wants the best for us, and we also know that God would never allow us to be tested beyond what we are able to endure (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Paul also understood that today’s light and brief sufferings and afflictions are not worthy to be compared with the future weight of eternal glory to be revealed in us (2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:18). So, he wrote Titus these encouraging words: “Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word [of the hope of eternal life] through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior…” (Titus 1:1-3).

Let us continue to develop in our lives that unshakable and sure hope of a brilliant and unimaginable future. At the same time, let us try, as much as we can, to share this message of hope with others. Let us follow Jesus Christ, the “hope of [our] glory” (Colossians 1:27) to go on in order to reach our final destination. Christ is waiting for us — let us continue to eagerly wait and hope for Him. When He returns, He will give us “the hope of the promise of eternal glory” — an unspeakable hope that far transcends our present life (compare 1 Corinthians 15:19).
 

In chapter 13 of the Book of Ezekiel, verses 1-3, we find that the Lord had a concern with the prophets of Israel. He states that some of them were prophesying out of their own hearts. He called them foolish, those who would follow their own spirit and yet had seen nothing.

This word “foolish” is translated from the Hebrew word “nabal,” indicating an act of stupidity of a wicked or vile person – one who is insensitive to what God desires. In verse 5, He states to these foolish men, “You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.” God is saying here that what these men were doing was futile!

God goes on in the 22nd chapter of Ezekiel, verse 23-30, and shows that these prophets were committing a conspiracy which was devouring the people. In verse 26 He states, “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so I am profaned among them.”

In verse 30 God says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

Down through the generations, God has sought such men and women, but has found only a few, compared to the multitudes, who have been willing to stand for His Way. Moses is an outstanding example of one who did stand firmly for God’s Truth without compromise. He taught the people through his word and by his example. Moses loved God’s Way and God’s people and prayed for them often.

What is the cost for one to stand in the gap for God and His Way? Peter, in speaking with Christ concerning this, stated in Matthew 19:27: “See, we have left all and followed you.” Brethren, you and I have been called to a Way that requires such a commitment, yet we do it willingly, without reservation.

Christ says to you, in verse 29 of Matthew 19, “And everyone who has left homes or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit everlasting life.”

We certainly have much to be thankful for; especially that God has called us at this time to stand in the gap for His Way! This age desperately needs those who serve God–just as Moses did in his day–to likewise be a light of the Way of God as well as to intervene with God so that even in this time of darkness, some should be saved. Let each of us put our whole heart and being into serving God and to accomplishing what God has so rarely found–faithful men and women who are “standing in the gap!”
 

Matthew records a series of profound questions from some of the disciples. Among other things, they asked Jesus about the “end of the age” (Matthew 24:3). The answers given by Jesus were even more startling. In fact, we now understand that much of what has been left for us to know of the message Jesus Christ proclaimed focused on the end of this age and the establishment of God’s Kingdom.

Many generations–even that early Church of God which heard the words we now read–have thought that theirs was the final generation. Yet, one generation will indeed be the one spoken of by Jesus. Furthermore, the Bible is full of prophecies that describe events and personalities that are destined to arise at the end. Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 10:11: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition [instruction], upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

Peter, one of the disciples who asked Jesus about the end of the age, in later years preached the same imminent truth: “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers…” (1 Peter 4:7). Peter explains that because of the times in which we live, we should live our lives accordingly–especially with “…fervent love for one another” (v. 8).

Speaking of the final generation which would witness His return to the earth, Jesus used the days before the flood of Noah’s time as a comparison. What He said of that former doomed generation was that they “…did not know until the flood came and took them all away” (Matthew 24:39). They did not watch–they were not ready for what was about to happen. The reason for this was that they simply went on with their daily lives in a world where the “…wickedness of man was great in the earth, and [ ] every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Jesus contended with the Pharisees and Sadducees for their spiritual blindness: “…You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3).

Can we each discern that we are now living at the end of this age? Are we able to believe what our eyes see and our ears hear? The status quo of this age has shifted remarkably and shockingly at the beginning of this new century, and events are now sweeping us along in fulfillment of the momentous end time prophecies Jesus Christ warned about!

Our safety and preservation can only be found in God. Just as Noah fulfilled the work given to him by God, those of us called into the Church of God must fulfill the great work entrusted to us. Jesus also left a promise in this regard when He said that “…for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened [“cut short”–not allowed to run to full completion]” (Matthew 24:22).

We have seen movies, read books, heard sermons–we have all, in one way or another, pondered about the close of this age. What we all must now do is wake up and believe the fearsome truth–these are the end times!