The U.S. is splintering deeper into isolated and contentious sides of moral and political ideologies.  Paul spoke to Timothy about this age and the characteristics of its people, “but know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be … boasters, proud…without self-control…despisers of good…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). We are being torn apart as a country, not from invading forces but from within—by our own hands.  The reason is simple: man has disavowed God.

This inclination was understood by our founding fathers. Abraham Lincoln stated in his Lyceum Address “…At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.”

While we can quickly point to a nation falling apart after generations of spiritual decay, we must also test our own foundations—seeking to continuously shore up our spiritual walls against the constant battering of Satan. We live in an age of spiritual darkness like none other.  We are, by God’s Will, set apart to shine in this blackness as “children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom [we] shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).

Mankind has pushed God away and has become blinded by Satan, “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 4:4). Our only hope of trudging through this darkness is by “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” (Hebrews 12:2). Only by our own weakness will we fail, and only by our reliance on Jesus Christ will we succeed.

In the coming days, months and even years, we will continue to hear about the current leadership in this country that has been put into place, and we will see how the world will be affected by it.  Currently, there is a lot of anger, frustration, disappointment, concern and shock being heard and felt across the globe due to Mr. Trump being elected President.  What the vast majority of people in this world fail to realize is that it HAD to be this way.  It made no difference when it came to voting for a specific candidate, because God saw to it whom He would place into office; and He did that for a specific reason.  Daniel 2:21 states, “He changes the times and the seasons: He removes kings, and raises up kings: He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” It is clear from Scripture that God is in charge.  It is also clear that we have been given the knowledge to understand that God is in charge and anyone who votes for a specific political candidate, no matter what the reason may be to justify why he or she voted, clearly then DOES NOT understand God’s purpose.  It is not for us to decide who goes into office.

At the same time, Satan the Devil, who is the god of this world, also did his part in making sure that the next president would be the one who could cause more chaos and destruction in this world.  Satan currently is satisfied because he wants nothing more than to see mankind suffer (1 Peter 5:8).  He is very tricky and cunning, like a thief who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).  This is exactly why we need to be careful at ALL times and not get caught up in the politics of the world by voting, for example, thinking that we are thereby speeding up the process or trying to make this a better world or helping our country to become more prosperous.  See how Satan works who deceives the whole world?

So then, the question is, who is the real winner? It isn’t Mr. Trump because he doesn’t realize why he has been put into office, since it was God’s doing for the purpose of fulfilling prophecy, and Mr. Trump can very likely speed things up towards the Great Tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ.

It also isn’t Satan because he knows that he has a short time left insofar as prophecy is concerned (Revelation 12:10), since these things have to take place before he is defeated.

So the real winner here would be WE, the True Church, along with God the Father and Jesus Christ.  We need to understand what the purpose for all this is.  Should we be surprised that Mr. Trump has been elected as the next President?  What does the Bible say about the future for this nation, the modern house of Israel? (Compare Ezekiel 6:6; 7:19; Jeremiah 30:10; Amos 7:17).

Prophecy is indeed unfolding before our eyes, if we have eyes to see (Revelation 19:10; John 16:13; Matthew 24:32-33; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6); and we are eagerly waiting for the climax (Romans 8:23-25) because when we “see these things happening, [we] know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31).

Donald Trump has been chosen as the 45th President of the United States. He is a successful business man with no political experience who considers himself an outsider.  He built up a fortune of some nine plus billion dollars and promises to make  America great again.

There is so much corruption in politics that it is difficult to sort everything out and get an accurate evaluation of what is really going on. The one thing we know for sure is that Mr. Trump will not make America great, because the problems are insurmountable.

To put an end to the madness, the only real solution to making America great, and every nation on the face of the earth, is the return of Jesus Christ.

We have just gotten back from the Feast of Tabernacles which pictures a world of true peace and harmony, being ruled by the incorruptible Family of God. The sons and daughters of God, under Christ, will not be subject to political pressures, bribes and corruption, but they will govern with equity and fairness, something this world has never seen.

We, as God’s Church, have the responsibility to get this message out to the world. It has to get done so that Christ can return, and it will get done. Matthew 24:14 says: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

The question we need to ask ourselves is this: Are we a part of the process of fulfilling this God-given commission which will, in due time, make the whole world great again, not just America?

There is a programme on Sunday mornings on BBC television in the UK where weekly debates are conducted about moral, ethical and religious issues. In May 2016 the issue debated was entitled “Did Man Create God?” My first reaction was “here we go again” but, on reflection, I thought that in every case except the worship of the true God, man did indeed create the god or gods that he now worships.

We know that there is “no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12) and that this applies only to Jesus Christ. Further, we also know from the Bible that the Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey Him is a condition of being a called-out member of the Family of God.

The true Church of God knows and understands that there is only one God and that there are conditions that apply to being a member of the Church that Jesus founded.   We also know that there will be those from other religions who will see our understanding as being “exclusive” and even within mainstream Christianity they can also take the same view about Church of God “exclusivity”.

But we are not exclusivists in the way that the world would understand. Jesus made it abundantly clear that there is only one way and that is the narrow way and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:14). So it is not exclusivist to make the assertions that we do, but just a reflection of the knowledge that God has given us through a correct understanding of His Word.

If you think about it, man did create god or gods in his own foolish imaginations. We read in Romans 1:21-23: “…because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”  This clearly shows that man has created “gods” and worships them accordingly.

We know that the ancient Egyptians worshipped all manner of created beings with a myriad of so called “gods” that had nothing to do with the true God. Down through the ages, man has created a god or gods and ignored the true God. Of course, many have never even heard of the true God because of the societies in which they live but we are privileged to know that they will be given their opportunity to know the true God at a later time.

When we see all of the gods of other religions today, we can get an understanding of the way that Satan works as he counterfeits religion and makes paganism seem another way that leads to God but we have been given the understanding that this is not acceptable to the true God.

In this programme with a carefully selected audience which included religious people, philosophers, scientists and others, we were exposed to false religionists pontificating about their brand of religion which we know from the Bible is truly false. In addition, there was a female rabbi and a female vicar. The latter stated that she knew the New Testament but not so much the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) but, from what she said, she didn’t even know the New Testament that well; otherwise, she wouldn’t be a part of the ministry! A Muslim from a Muslim think tank and someone representing Hinduism gave their insights, not realising that their brand of religion was in fact man creating god or gods, a principle not acceptable to the true God.

The ancient nation of Israel was told to “love the LORD your God, with all your heart, with all your soul (being) and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and we know that God is a “jealous God” (Exodus 20:5) which is mentioned as part of the second commandment. Jealous means that God is intolerant of unfaithfulness.   As one commentator put it: “Jealousy is a sin when it is a desire for something that does not belong to you. Worship, praise, honour, and adoration belong to God alone, for only He is truly worthy of it. Therefore, God is rightly jealous when worship, praise, honour, or adoration is given to idols. This is precisely the jealousy the apostle Paul described in 2 Corinthians 11:2, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy…”

Did man create God? No, he didn’t create the true God, of course, but all of the other gods have indeed been created by man. We have just been privileged to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day which gives us such invaluable understanding of the Way of the true God and His master plan for all of humanity.

It is quite sobering to think how far man is from the knowledge of the one true God but that will be rectified during the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment when everyone who has not been called until that time will then be given their opportunity to worship the true Creator. Then there will not be the need for such a discussion; just happiness and joy that the one true God is in charge and that mankind has been given the opportunity to share eternity with Him.

One of the key statements in the Bible is the need for man to bring glory and honor to God.

In fact, God says that He created us for His glory. We read in Isaiah 43:5-7 that God’s people are called and created for the purpose of glorifying God. Continuing in Isaiah 66:18-19, we see that ALL nations will be learning about God’s glory, and that the nations of Israel will in fact declare God’s glory.

Many will be asking at that time why they should worship and glorify God. When Moses asked Pharaoh to let Israel go, Pharaoh’s answer was “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Exodus 5:2). And so, an answer must be given in this regard. A prime answer can be found in 1 Chronicles 16:23-36, which helps to show that God’s great might and power are to be talked about and sung about, and that we should worship Him on the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days in holy array. There is no end to the greatness of God. Revelation 15:4 shows that when God’s righteousness is revealed to all nations, they will give glory to God.

Christ noted many times His affinity and love for God in His obedience to God. In this way, He showed glory to God (John 17:4). And by extension, He has shown us that we too, as Christians, must be bringing glory to God. Our good actions and deeds, being founded on God and His Word, can actually influence others to acknowledge and even give glory to God. But the opposite can also be true: We can actually cause God’s name to be blasphemed and dishonored if we are not mindful of our ways (Romans 2:22-24).

We should be constantly aware that we can have a positive or a negative effect on others. Romans 11:33-36 shows that God’s all-powerful presence should be a corner stone for our faith.

We should have confidence in our ways and let people see this (Matthew 5:16). This is how we are to show God that we really glorify Him, in growing abundantly in the fruit of the Spirit. John 15:8 states that this is how we prove that we actually are Christ’s true disciples. We must do everything to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), so that we ourselves know that we are being approved (Romans 14:18; Philippians 1:9-11; 2 Timothy 2:15).

As we are preparing for the Feast of Tabernacles, let us take this thought to heart and really strive to understand just how we can glorify God during this appointed time, and how we can let our lights shine to this darkening world. It is a must if we want to make it into the Kingdom of God, which we will be picturing in the upcoming days.

The recent disclosure of Donald Trump’s tax records have rattled a hornet’s nest of opinions in the media, demonstrating, once again, just how far man has separated himself from God.

While our nation grumbles over how much Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have paid in taxes, one glaring point is lost: to our knowledge, most of the citizens have failed to acknowledge God through tithing!

Paul warned, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7-8).

God warned ancient Israel of the consequences of rejecting His leadership and instead desiring a King to rule over them. He warned the people that the King would demand payment of high taxes, but this would not abolish the duty of the people to pay God’s tithe. Today, we are still living under those consequences which God articulated to Samuel, “but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

The requirement of tithing has never changed. Man is still obliged to give to God His portion. Malachi makes a comparison when we reject this command, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation” (Malachi 3:8-9).

In addition, God requires more than just the mere act of tithing. As the Pharisees were sorting out their tithe, making sure to give no more or no less than required, He chastised them for their lack of understanding, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24).

For those that do joyfully and properly tithe with the right attitude, Malachi continues, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).

God desires the very best for us. All we have to give up is our greed—a task insurmountable for many in this world today. Rejoice that we are so blessed to understand and take part in tithing to God.

A campaign called, “National Back To Church Sunday,” was recently promoted in the U.S. with the goal of inviting people back to church again. Another appeal regularly seen in the media is, “attend the church of your choice.”

While some might respond to these slogans, their actions would not improve their relationship with God, for their whole premise is founded on falsehood (compare Matthew 7:21-23). For the people who have truly been called by God and then have engaged themselves in compromise, there is a much more definitive and somber rallying cry given to members of the Church of God.

Jude puts it this way:

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (verse 3).

Jude’s letter was written in the later decades of the first generation of the Church of God—a time of wholesale apostasy.

Jesus addressed those who had left their first love; who suffered great persecution; who embraced vile doctrines; who were letting the truth of God die; who had only a little strength; and who, filled with self-righteousness, had lost their zeal for obeying God. These warnings are found in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, and all members of the Church of God are responsible to heed His admonitions.

Paul was inspired to address the way the truth of God would be rejected in our time—the “last days”:

“For the time will come when they will not endure SOUND DOCTRINE, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Do you embrace sound doctrines which can be clearly proven from the Word of God? When you listen to sermonettes or sermons, read booklets and articles, fellowship with brethren—is it all based on the doctrines of truth, those only found in the Bible? Or do you harbor a private interpretation—a pet theory which the Church of God does not teach?

With this Update, we are presenting the fifth and final installment of a series, “How Are We to Keep the Sabbath?” Just as Jude did, so are we “exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Knowledge of the weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Days must not be taken for granted—they ARE part of the faith. Keeping them as God has commanded IS sound doctrine, and if you aren’t, if you have become lax and permissive, don’t close your eyes and ears to God’s counsel:

“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” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

When someone has suffered trauma, is unconscious, has stopped breathing and his heart has stopped, then the person is administered CPR.

“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” commonly known as CPR, is described as an emergency procedure that combines chest compression, often with artificial ventilation, in an effort to manually preserve brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person.

The reason this has to be administered quickly is to avoid brain damage from a lack of oxygen to the brain. Failure to act immediately can cause permanent and irreparable brain damage. CPR in first aid was developed to prolong a person’s life until professional medical attention could be given to the patient involved.

When you look at the conditions in the world with all its current ills and evil, you have to conclude that the patient (mankind) is in dire straits, and something needs to be done or the patient will surely die. What is needed for mankind is another form of CPR—“Christ’s pressing return”—to avoid certain death. The professional treatment for mankind is the imminent return of Christ in order to save mankind from himself, as man is currently on a self-destructive course from which there would be no return.

This ushering in of a new age will solve, in time, all the ills and problems of mankind. A patient or victim, bleeding severely and in shock, has to have the bleeding controlled in order to get well. Likewise, conditions on the earth cannot get better until the bleeding, as it were, is controlled and the patient can and will recover.

This new age is one of peace and harmony, something mankind has not experienced to any degree or at any length of time since Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise and Cain killed his brother Abel.

God’s Church has the opportunity and responsibility to be engaged in the process of proclaiming the good news (the gospel) of God’s Kingdom to the world, just prior to the new age being ushered in. This is a great privilege which should not be taken lightly. Rather, we should be zealously doing the Work, which our loving Father has given us, not looking back but moving forward to finish the job for the ultimate benefit of mankind.

While a dying patient may need CPR in the form of “cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” this world needs another form of CPR—“Christ’s pressing return.”

In the British parliamentary system, there is the ruling party and the opposition.   On the website www.parliament.co.uk the following is written:

“The Opposition are the political parties other than the largest or government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons and House of Lords Chambers. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty’s Official Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of government. In the House of Commons the Leader of the Opposition is the title given to the leader of the second largest party.”

The dictionary definition of “opposition” is: “resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument.”

Synonyms are: “resistance, hostility, antagonism, antipathy, enmity, objection, dissent, criticism, defiance, non-compliance, obstruction, obstructiveness, counteraction.”

Those definitions don’t give a positive view of “the opposition”.   In fact, that is usually how it turns out to be.   Not very often do “the opposition” agree with the government; in fact quite the contrary as they have different political agendas and feel that they can’t be seen as being cooperative as that would boost the prestige and support of the government itself.

(We are not saying, of course, that the government is always right and that the opposition is always wrong or that there is never a time to disagree with the concepts or the way in which the government handles things. In this world which is cut off from God, disagreement with the government’s position on just about any given topic is more likely than not, but the opposition’s proposals are, in all likelihood, unacceptable as well. What we are saying is that God’s standards and methods are quite different from the way in which the government and the opposition are conducting themselves.)

The term “the opposition” can have a very negative connotation and can be divisive.  How about using a term that will be a constant in the world tomorrow when Jesus Christ rules on earth in the Kingdom of God?   That word is cooperation.   If the term was changed at this time to “the cooperation”, hands would be thrown in the air and would be deemed to be inappropriate or impossible.

Of course, in the age when Satan is in control of society, there is no way that he would want cooperation and would see to it that it would not happen.   He is the opposition particularly to God and the people of God and also to the rest of humanity.   He doesn’t want to see people happy and cooperating with each other.

Rather than unity and cooperation, Satan has promoted, very successfully, enmity and division.  We read in Matthew 24:12 when talking about the end times: “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.   And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

This is a result of the activity of the one who wants to undermine everything positive and see the demise of humanity.  It may seem a small thing about calling Members of Parliament who are not part of the ruling group as the opposition, but this strikes at the heart of UK governance.   Opposition can have a negative feel about it and that is one of many things that Satan wants to promote.

In the coming Kingdom of God there will be total cooperation and the government will be absolutely unified as they do everything possible to promote God’s way of life to those living at that time.

Cooperation is the way of God and the way that we must adopt, promote and clearly reflect in our Christian lives now and is the way that we will live forever as members of the God Family.   And it will promote happiness as never before!

Last week there was a credible threat of a violent attack targeting some of the federal agencies close to the one that I work with. Nearby in Fort Collins an entire campus of federal offices was shut down, forcing hundreds of employees to be turned away from work. As the news broke in my office, very little information was known, and what was known was delivered through a wide variety of different sources. The rumors made quite a swirl throughout the morning – some made it sound like the threat was imminent, and others made it sound fictional.

My own work place was in a different, but related federal facility than the one directly threatened, but everyone that we work with still had to make a decision about what to do for themselves. On the one hand, the threat seemed remote and unrealistic, but on the other hand, our office seemed like it could be a legitimate target. In the interest of playing it safe, dozens of people working in a different branch in the building were sent home. It was a surreal moment as I contemplated how to handle the situation for myself and the team that I manage. It was truly difficult to judge from the information that we had if this was a threat that was credible enough for us to take drastic actions.

Fortunately, nothing significant came from this event, and normal life resumed the following day. But to me, this event was a reminder of how quickly and unexpectedly something serious can occur in the world we live in and trigger panic. As the anniversary of the tragic September 11^th attacks approaches this year, I recall what that day was like. It was just like any other day. I went to work for the day, just as I normally did, and by the time I had arrived two jets had crashed into the twin towers in New York City. In that ten minute commute, the world had changed. But it was going to be “just another day.”

The event last week also reminded me of even more important things, which are recorded in God’s Word. As comfortable as we may be in this modern age, a simple catastrophic event, or even a rumor of an event, can strike as quickly and unexpectedly as a bolt of lightning. And so we have been warned, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4). Even though the day of the Lord will come as a thief, when we may be having an otherwise regular day, it is also something that we have been made aware of far ahead of time. We may be surprised at how unpredictably the events might unfold, but we will not be caught completely off-guard if we pay attention to warnings and watch for the signs of the times, as the Bible instructs.

Even if the events of fulfilled prophecy happen on a day when we have not planned for a catastrophic event to occur, we can rest assured that the instructions that we have in the Bible will successfully guide us. The only thing that we can do is rely on God’s protection. We cannot, and must not, rely on our own wit or strength to protect us. “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:11-12). When catastrophe strikes and threatens our safety and well-being, we can and must have faith in God to lead us to safety.

Last week as I contemplated how to respond to a threat of a violent attack, the thought that I need to rely on God—and only God—tempered every fear that I had. I wasn’t sure what judgment was right, but I was unwavering in my confidence that God would offer protection in the time of need.