Looking back at your life, how many times do you feel that God led you to choose or not to choose a certain course of action? And how many times did you act against your better judgment, only to realize later that you should have followed your “instincts” or your “first impression”? 

Do you sometimes feel today that you are being motivated to do or not to do something, without fully knowing as to why that is? If you truly know God and are close to Him, you will experience that you are being directed in certain ways, and it is always good to carefully listen to and consider that guidance.

This has nothing to do with superstition—it is in fact God who is leading you and working in your life. In Luke 2:27, we read that God’s Spirit motivated Simeon to come into the temple to see the Child Jesus. In Matthew 4:1, we are told that the Father, through His Spirit, led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  The Holy Spirit inspired and directed the ministry to appoint Paul and Barnabas as apostles who were then sent by the Holy Spirit to Seleucia and Cyprus (Acts 13:1-4). On other occasions, Paul and his fellow workers were prohibited or prevented by the Spirit of God from traveling to Asia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6-7).

We are told that we are God’s children if His Spirit leads, guides and directs us (Romans 8:14), and that we must follow Christ wherever He goes and wants us to go (Matthew 16:24; Revelation 14:4). This means that we have to be very attentive to the Father’s and Christ’s lead. When God shows us the way, we must not close our ears and our eyes, thinking this might not be the right course of action because it may not be the easy road to travel, or because it might not make that much sense at the time.

Abraham left his homeland to follow God, “not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). Moses followed God’s lead, “as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). Enoch and Noah walked or “lived constantly” with God (Genesis 5:24; 6:9, Elberfelder Bible). Christ was leading them, and they followed His steps, as we must do today (1 Peter 2:21).

Sometimes we may think that God has to speak to us in obvious and spectacular ways before we are ready and willing to listen, but many times, God speaks to us with a still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-13). How attentive are we to His subtle lead? And how determined are we to follow that lead even when others try to dissuade us? The Galatians ran well, but they were then hindered to obey the truth and follow God. Paul said that this persuasion did “not come from Him who calls” us (Galatians 5:7-8). When God directs us, we must follow, no matter where our path may lead.

On the 7th July 2005 (often referred to as 7/7 in the UK) there were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in London which targeted civilians using the public transport system during the morning rush hour.   Four Islamist terrorists detonated bombs aboard London Underground trains across the city and, later, a fourth on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square.   The outcome was that fifty-two civilians and the four bombers were killed in the attacks, and over 700 more were injured.   It was a horrendous day.

On the 7th July 2013  the news was completely different and the British nation rejoiced in an event, not mourned as they had eight years before.    Andy Murray, the British tennis player became the first “Brit” to win the Wimbledon singles championship since Fred Perry in 1936.  Now you may not be interested in tennis in particular, or sport in general, but a huge television audience were glued to their screens in addition to those at the event and there were some very interesting principles at work.

 (Andy Murray) is a 26 year old Scot from Dunblane, a small, affluent cathedral town with a population of less than 8,000 people, and he was just eight when a killer stormed into his school to shoot dead 17 people, mostly children, before turning a gun on himself – and so he is no stranger to atrocity.

Mr. Herbert Armstrong produced a booklet some years ago entitled “The Seven Laws of Success” and Andy Murray used six of these to produce his stunning triumph.   The Wimbledon authorities said that on the centre court, a sun trap,  the heat approached 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and in such heat, Andy and his Serbian opponent, the world’s number one player, Novak Djokovic, produced an epic game with both men showing skill, stamina, determination, the will to win, guts, strength, courage, precision, judgment, fitness and much more.

Mr. Armstrong listed seven laws of success with the 7th being “contact with, guidance and continuance help of God.”    Whilst it is not for me to comment on Andy’s belief or otherwise in God, perhaps that may be the one law that he didn’t use?   If he did, he would have used all the laws but he certainly used the other six.   These, as written about by Mr Armstrong were:

·having the right goal, which Andy had from a very young age

·education or preparation – he spent years preparing to win at the highest level

·good health – he and his team ensured that he ate well and stayed in peak condition

·drive – he had this in abundance and there was nothing half-hearted in what he did; otherwise he would be found out at the highest level of his sport

·resourcefulness – as Mr Armstrong wrote, “when complications, obstacles, unexpected circumstances appear to block your path, you must be equipped with resourcefulness to   solve the problem, overcome the obstacle, and continue on your course”.   In his career, Andy had to be resourceful and even in a single game it is often necessary to be resourceful and to “think outside the box” as the modern saying goes, in order to succeed

·perseverance – he persevered, having lost four finals of Grand Slam competitions but in the last year through sheer determination and perseverance he won the gold medal at the Olympics, the US Open championship and then Wimbledon.

Perhaps without even knowing it, he did what needed to be done to achieve his goals, and six of the seven laws of success were utilised in order to succeed at the highest level.

What can we, as Christians, take from this?   If someone can dedicate his life to achieving a temporal goal by using these principles, how much more is this true for those of us whom God has called to be in His Family for eternity?   Can we do any less than Andy did?   Of course not!

The loser’s parents both gave Andy’s mother a big hug, and Novak Djokovic was very sportsmanlike, giving all the credit to his opponent, and he was very gracious in defeat.   Perhaps we could also learn from such outstanding examples of excellent and heart-warming behaviour.

It was a tennis match, albeit a very high profile one and certainly one where many important principles were shown by those involved.   Just a tennis match – no, it was much more than that for those with eyes to see.

It is no secret to us that the god of this age, Satan the devil, has been very active, causing havoc all over the world, as he has been doing, in principle, since the beginning of mankind. It is also no secret to us that Satan has been trying everything he can to destroy God’s Church, and each and every one of us. We ought to be aware of that, stand guard and not let Satan persuade us to forsake God’s Way of Life and to follow the devil’s lead.

History has shown just how busy Satan is, especially in respect to God’s Church and at times when we prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles, which is quickly upon us, less than two months away.  We can expect increasing difficulties, as Satan is very angry, knowing that he only has a short time left until Jesus Christ returns.

There is much work ahead of us as we prepare for the upcoming Feast, and we must be aware of our weaknesses that can cause us to lose our focus. We must not allow them to rule over us; rather, we must conquer them.  One such weakness is laziness, which can be very addictive if we are not careful.  If we let it get out of hand, it can wind us down more and more until we don’t have the desire to do anything anymore, or at least to the point when we have to force ourselves somehow to get back on track. We cannot let that happen as we ALL have a job to do. As true Christians, we are a part of God’s Church, which is a spiritual organism, and if we neglect or refuse to fulfill our individual responsibilities within the Church, or if we think we are not really a part of it or that there is no need for us to be a part of it, then we are in trouble, as we are probably not going to survive, especially in light of what is prophesied for the near future. 

Satan wants us to be lazy and unfruitful, because he knows that if we give in to laziness, we will lose out. We read in Proverbs 13:4 that “the soul of the lazy man desires and has nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”  We also read in Proverbs 10:4: “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.” If we are diligent, zealous and “on fire,” we will be productive. Laziness bears no fruit, and it could even be considered a sin. Now, if we think that laziness by itself is not a sin, it can definitely lead to sin.

How serious is it then if we start to lack in our efforts? In Matthew 25:14-30, we read about the parable of the talents, referring to the Kingdom of God, and how easy it can be to miss out.  It requires no effort to become lazy;  it is so easy not to work hard; but this is dangerous, and we shouldn’t let it get that far.  The lazy servant was also wicked (verse 26) and unprofitable (verse 30). He did not accomplish anything. We can apply this parable to any given situation in our lives, whether it be our work, our marriage, family relationships, childrearing, prayers and studies, tithes and offerings, or involvement in the Church in general. We will not profit in anything, if we are lazy. And we will not qualify to enter the Kingdom of God and eternal life, if we become and remain lazy. 

Diligence is the key. We must work hard physically and spiritually. In this physical life, when we are diligent in our work, we will profit from it.  But the most important thing is how we do spiritually.  If we are diligent in that respect, we will profit in the most important gift which is offered to us–eternal life in the Family of God (compare Hebrews 4:11; 2 Peter 1:10-11).

Points of reference help us navigate our lives. For some it is a matter of noting age, education, career development, where home is or many other benchmarks of life.

But where are we in terms of the Bible? Can we relate to guidelines in the Word of God in a personal way? There is precedence for doing so:

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:11-14).

Jesus spoke of end-time events which would herald His return to the earth, and He very specifically stated that we should be watching these as signs of prophetic fulfillment:

“‘Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near–at the doors!’” (Matthew 24:32-33).

The danger we face is that we really don’t believe what our eyes are seeing! There is a tendency to accept the downfall of society as the norm, but that attitude will prove to be terribly wrong!

Do you diligently study and watch biblical prophecy, or do you leave that to others to worry about? Are you growing as a Christian? Is your commitment to the Church of God reflected in real, dedicated participation?

Where we are in our lives has everything to do with the criteria of God’s Will. Keeping that unwavering point of reference before us will faithfully guide us—both now and into the fearful times that are descending upon us.

Throughout the Bible we are told that we must be simple, and yet in other places we are told that we should not be simple. So, which should we be?  In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul warns: “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

Paul’s concern here was very plain and evident. He was contemplating that some of God’s people would become deceived by Satan. He also seemed to include in his statement the warning that we must not follow Satan’s lead by becoming crafty or deceitful. The only way to avoid this is to embrace in our lives the “simplicity that is in Christ.”

The world would have us believe that the more it creates, invents and teaches and the more complexity that is being achieved, the better our lives will become. Can we not see, though, that in spite of our “modern” advances, things are NOT getting better? In fact, things are deteriorating at an alarming rate. How can so many be blinded to this truth?  We are called upon to simplify our complicated and complex lives.

Rather than being distracted by many things, we ought to concentrate on that which is needed. Martha “was distracted with much serving,” and she asked Christ to tell her sister Mary, who was listening to Christ’s words, to help her. But Christ answered: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-42).

Proverbs 1:22 asks the question: “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?” The simplicity that is talked about here is the wrong kind of simplicity. Solomon is warning against being simple in an unwise way, without using godly understanding and wisdom. We are told that there is wisdom in God’s words, which give “understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130). God’s knowledge shows us how to obtain Christ’s simplicity—while rejecting the worldly concepts of “simple-minded” people.

The right kind of simplicity brings on many connotations. Recently I heard someone explain that simplicity is about bringing order to complexity. Simplicity at its core means that a lot of thought and preparation has gone into something, so that in the end, it can result in simplicity and a concept which can be easily understood. God’s entire plan, which is outlined in the Bible, is really simple or straight-forward, if our eyes have been opened.

In Psalm 19:7-11, we see the effects of using the Bible as a living document. We understand that Godly wisdom makes “wise the simple.” With that kind of right simplicity of living, there is also peace and rest (Matthew 11: 28-30). Simplicity in Christ is the way of life that we should want to live. Rather than striving for complex things that are beyond our reach, we must learn instead to let God take the lead and teach us how to live in this world at this time. This is what it means to lead our lives with Christ’s simplicity in us.

Something might be happening in Kenya, possibly reflecting a genuine interest of several groups in some form of association with us.

The decision was made at our recent ministerial conference to conduct a ministerial visit and meetings in Kenya. One reason is that there has not been a ministerial visit of our local members for several years. The other reason is the recognition of a growing interest of those who want to join us or have fellowship with us.

Some of those who have expressed interest are former members or affiliates of the Worldwide Church of God, while others have a certain knowledge of the teachings of the Church under Mr.  Armstrong. Then there are those who have read our Statement of Beliefs and agree with them. Some were baptized by offshoots of the Stanberry Church of God (Church of God Seventh Day). It was the Stanberry Church of God with which Mr. Armstrong had contact in the1930’s.

I am scheduled to leave for Nairobi on July 17 and will return on July 22. So far, there are seven leading people, representing five groups, who are willing to come to Nairobi to visit with me.  We are planning Sabbath services on July 20 at the hotel in Nairobi, where I will be staying, and it looks like there will be at least 12 people in attendance. I am also planning to conduct a leadership meeting on Sunday, July 21.

In addition, we were contacted by five or six groups in the Western part of the country who are interested in working with us, but they will not be able to meet with me in Nairobi and will not be represented at the planned meetings at this time. Hopefully and God willing, things may work out for a second trip to the Western region in the near future to meet with those who are interested in associating with us.

Please pray about this entire situation and for God’s protection, direction and wisdom, since we do not know exactly at this juncture what God has in mind for our work in Kenya, but we might look at God’s tremendous work in the German-speaking areas as a source of vision, motivation and encouragement. And when God opens doors for us, we must go through them.

Every day we each wake up with another chance to try our hand at fulfilling the purpose that God has set before us. Every day God presents us with an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and overcome the carnal world in which we reside. Every day we are challenged in an individual, custom-made, and personalized way so that we may build the character that God believes we have the potential to achieve. Whether we notice it or not, all of this happens – every single day. With each of the personal challenges we face on a daily basis we can respond by becoming discouraged and giving up, or by getting up and continuing on. For this reason, we need encouragement every day as well. Be encouraged.

Jesus Christ Himself offered encouraging words to His disciples just before He was arrested and crucified, saying, “’These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’” (John 16:33). Jesus knows from personal experience how difficult it is to keep going and live a life that glorifies God. We can be encouraged to know that He has overcome the world, and for a righteous purpose.

But what is that purpose? Do you have a purpose that drives you every day? Is it clear? Our purpose must be clear. Even more encouragement is offered in Romans 8:28-29, where we learn that the events in our lives all occur for God’s purpose. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” With this firmly in our minds and hearts, we can overcome any discouragement that we may experience by simply accepting it as an event working for God’s purpose. Knowing that God has predestined those whom He calls to be part of His Family, and that all events work towards that end should give us the strength to turn any discouragement into encouragement. Our purpose is God’s purpose, which is to be part of His Family. It really is as simple and clear as that.

Even if our purpose is simple and clear, it still takes work. Getting up each day, with the purpose of overcoming the world takes the strength and faith of Jesus Christ working within us.  And fortunately, the strength necessary to fulfill the purpose that God has for us is freely available to us if we are willing to repent and become baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This strength is so powerful, that it allows us to do anything in accordance with the Will of God (Philippians 4:13). With every new day, we all have a chance to put that strength to work.

It is astonishing to consider how seven billion people are living their lives. That number of humans is the approximate world population at the present time. Life is all-consuming, and what is important right now for the needs of the moment preoccupies most of us, most of the time!

Preparing for a future beyond this lifetime doesn’t hold great relevance for the majority of humanity.

How about you? Are you, through the visionary, big-picture goals of God’s revealed master plan, able to focus on His awe-inspiring future? Do you realize that what you are doing now will determine your place then? It is this powerful motivation by which Jesus Christ lived His life—setting an example for us:

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Jesus never lost His vision of the ultimate purpose! Yes, He did struggle in the moment, and His life was not easy. Hebrews 5, verse 7, reveals that He was engaged in a life and death battle! And so are we!

Paul wrote about this, and he reminds us, saying, “…If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). He also gives us a perspective that far exceeds our present circumstances:

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, or height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Christians are called upon to live with their future life always at the forefront. Is the promise given to us to have part in the Kingdom of God enough for us to endure our trials, to overcome discouragement and to continue to “…press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, Authorized Version)?

An American paper wrote recently: “Well if it’s Thursday, there must be a new Obama scandal.” Even though this sounds funny, it is in fact rather tragic. From the terrorist attack on America’s embassy in Benghazi and the subsequent cover-up by the US government; the IRS’s illegal targeting of conservative groups; the Justice Department’s controversial seizure of phone records of AP and Fox reporters; drone warfare in contradiction to international law; to the economy-destroying new health-“care”-law, termed Obamacare… you just name it: one scandal follows the next.

And now–Verizon and the report in the British paper, The Guardian, that the National Security Agency (NSA, also known as “Never Say Anything” or “No Such Agency” ) is collecting telephone records of tens of millions of innocent customers without their knowledge and consent (The groundwork for this secretive spying activity was laid with the enactment of the Patriot Act in 2001 under President Bush and an indifferent, uninformed and disinterested Congress, but it has gotten much worse under President Obama, who had prided himself with establishing a new era of transparency. The original author of the Patriot Act has claimed now that it does not authorize the government’s “excessive” conduct). This new development has really made the German press mad, and strong phrases are used, in describing the USA, as being a spy nation, a totalitarian country or even a fascist state. Demands are heard to revisit the EU-US arrangements pertaining to data collection.

The problem is, virtually all politicians(with just a few notable exceptions)—whether Democrats or Republicans, whether President Obama or former President Bush, whether the Obama Administration or the Congress–have had their sticky fingers in this pie. The Washington Times called this behavior “a shocking abdication of responsibility” and suggested that, since they are not doing their job, they should go back “to West Gondola to find a job they can do.” As the National Journal wrote on June 6: “Congress is full of hypocrites. Liberals who criticized Bush are less incensed with Obama. Republicans who bowed to Bush are now blasting Obama.”

The left-leaning Huffington Post promptly coined a new name for the current President: “George W. Obama.”

Unconvincing platitudes or “justifications” are heard from both sides, as if these spying tactics would in any way make the country safer and were only meant to target bad guys. How can anyone say this when no one seems to know how the collected data is being used? The additional lame observation that the information does not include the name of any caller is laughable since there is no difficulty in matching numbers to names. Further, it is obvious that the US government had no intention of revealing this eavesdropping, as they have been very secretive about other matters as well (for instance, the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen, was only admitted 1 ½ years after the event and after the press reported it).

But it does not stop with the surveillance of phone records. As Die Welt and The New York Times reported, the US government has been collaborating or conspiring with at least nine Internet giants to get easy access to private information of their customers, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple and PalTalk. According to the Washington Post, Dropbox is soon being added to the list. Since 2007, a Prism program is collecting all data, including emails, which are transmitted from our homes or businesses via our computer, smartphone, i-Pad, and Kindle. Apparently only Twitter has made it more difficult for the government to obtain such data.

Even the left media is becoming alarmed. The Editorial Board of the New York Times wrote that “The administration has now lost all credibility.” They later found this to be too strong, and added in an updated version, “… on that issue.”

The Washington Post, in its editorial, wrote that the Verizon revelation (and it is strongly suspected that Verizon is by far not the only telephone company collaborating with the NSA) “ought to be a wake-up call for every American… It’s only going to get worse,” continuing that President Obama recently “revealed his desire for even more of this kind of surveillance.” The paper then astutely pointed out the following:

“The Internal Revenue Service scandal is Exhibit A in the case against trusting anyone in the government to behave when it has unfettered access to sensitive information.” In explaining that the “nation’s founding document” prohibits the government’s conduct, as “a man’s ‘papers’ – his communications—are not to be seized without probable cause and a warrant ‘particularly’ describing the items and places to be searched,” it continued: “The breathtaking scope of the Verizon order (by a federal judge who prohibited Verizon to go public with its handing over the records) resembles… the blanket authorization the British crown once gave to its agents in the colonies to snoop anywhere they pleased on the hunt for ‘contraband.’ This is the abuse that inspired the Fourth Amendment, but lazy and irresponsible congressmen of both parties have enabled its return.”

What will happen next? What new big scandal will be revealed in the days to come? When will the American people wake up—if they ever do—and realize they have become helpless pawns and victims within a system of governmental activities, which George Orwell’s novel, “1984” about “big brother” has only remotely begun to describe?

The Bible warns us not to place our trust in men or any government ruled by men. This is not God’s world, and God is not the god of this world—Satan is. We are told to come out of this world and its systems, and not to have any part in it. Even though we live IN this world, we are not be OF this world. As ambassadors of Christ and the kingdom and government of God, we must separate ourselves from the affairs of this world. What agreement and collaboration could the righteousness of a true Christian have with corrupt, secretive and unrighteous politics?

What we are seeing today is just further evidence of the fact that the entire nation is sick, from the top to the bottom, and that America’s downfall is inevitable. Europe is becoming increasingly incensed with what is happening in this country, and while leaders of a complacent and indifferent nation are destroying the country from the inside, the prophesied European military attack on America cannot be that far off, which will destroy the country from the outside. The good news is that when we see all of these things happening, we ought to KNOW that the return of Jesus Christ is near.

In two of my last three editorials I have written about the Bible, God’s instruction manual, being ignored over the questions of women bishops in the Church of England and same sex marriage.  

Thinking about those two issues and the fact that many seem to think that the Word of God is flexible and must “move with the times” reminded me that there have been those in leadership positions who actually did know right from wrong and didn’t expect the goalposts to move in order to fit in with what the movers and shakers in modern society expected and required.

The phrase “the lady’s not for turning” is a famous phrase used by the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference on October 10, 1980.   The people of God can learn a very important lesson from what Mrs Thatcher said.   I don’t refer to any political agenda or any political party as we are to stay clear of the political scene and have no involvement with it whatsoever.   I refer to the fact that when it comes to staying with principles we believe in that we should not be for turning either.

We have seen over the years those who have been for turning and are no longer part of the Church, and so it is a point that has to be made time and time again to remind us not to relax.   If any of us let down in any way, our adversary will exploit any weakness he can find.

We live in an era of licentiousness, permissiveness and outright liberality where almost anything goes, and God’s people stand out very clearly from those all around us.   If that is not the case, then we are really in trouble!

God has set the standard, and He has no need to conform to the requirements of modern society.   He created us and has no need to let His creation dictate to Him.   He knows what is best.   God does not change (Malachi 3:6) and that refers to His character and the keeping of His law.   Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever, as we read in Hebrews 13:8.   They are not for turning and neither should we be.