Update from the President

While It Is Day

These past few months have challenged all of us, whether from financial, emotional, family, societal or spiritual perspectives. I daily—often several times a day—thank and praise God for sustaining and shielding each of us in our fellowship.

Looking now to the second half of the year 2020, what can we expect? Thinking about this tumultuous year brings back memories of when I was an Ambassador College student at the Bricket Wood campus in England in the late 1960s. There, literally every day we heard from church leaders who were considered then to be spiritual pillars. They were on fire! They didn't mince words about the dangers of a backsliding society, of secularization, of countries abandoning their spiritual roots and loyalty to biblical principles.

Since those times, most of those leaders have died. Much has since happened in the Church of God community, good and bad. I personally recently passed the half century mark of service as a minister of Jesus Christ, which continues to be a humbling privilege and opportunity, but one I never anticipated achieving in my younger days.

Thinking about all of this, I remember many of those leaders being concerned and disturbed about the events of the day back then.

I daresay if they were to come back today, they would be shocked and horrified.

How far has America and the world fallen since those days?

Consider this remarkable statement, written authoritatively by a U.S. Supreme Court justice just a few decades ago: "We [in the United States] are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being" (emphasis added throughout).

Do Americans presuppose a Supreme Being today? If you asked someone on the street, how would they answer?

When Justice William O. Douglas, himself ironically a political liberal and scholar, wrote that statement as part of a legal decision affirming religious freedoms in 1952, well above 90% of Americans believed in God. Today, according to Pew Research, that number has fallen into the 60th percentile, with rising numbers of people who aren't certain whether they believe in God or don't believe at all. The numbers are far worse in Europe and Australia. Again, according to Pew, percentages of belief swing widely on the European continent, with the highest percentage (46%) in Italy who believe in God as described by the Bible to Sweden, where only 14% believe in the God of the Bible.

What has that godless trend produced?

I have had the privilege of living and serving all over the world. I have spent considerable time in countries blessed with plenty, in impoverished countries imprisoned by tyranny, in countries facing starvation, in countries promised freedom but enslaved by totalitarianism. My wife Bev has been there with me for much of it, and we have striven with others to make a small dent in economic and societal ills where we could and can. It is indeed humbling and deeply teaches one empathy.

What have I learned from this? Please consider this carefully: where life-changing belief in God collapses, evil and sinful behavior arises to replace it. As I wrote recently about a current U.S. Supreme Court decision, humans have tried to superimpose profane human-defined "definitions" of gender, following on prior "legal" decisions about allowing and recognizing same-sex marriages, blaspheming a sacred institution that was the first formal relationship defined and instituted by God Himself!

Let me be plain. God will not tolerate this. And we in the Church of God must understand the fullness of what this means!

I personally believe that God brought this world to a screeching halt a few months ago for a specific purpose. I believe that He created a global opportunity—an opportunity that spared no one—to see firsthand how close humanity is to the abyss. I believe God leveraged the tiniest of tools—a complex molecular-level virus endowed with near-demonic powers—to grind to a halt the mightiest of economies as well as the smallest. The reverberations and aftershocks still relentlessly grip and shake us, as an unprotected planet readies itself for a fresh wave of infection and death this fall.

God wants our attention. 

This applies to all, whatever country or fellowship one may live or worship in.

On the heels of the first wave of the coronavirus and economic devastation, the United States was unexpectedly plunged into another national crisis. This one ripped open anew old wounds of unresolved racism.

Following the killing of George Floyd, protests erupted across the land. The good outcome of this was the widespread recognition that racism must be dealt with and resolved once and for all. It will take time, but more and more people and organizations—including the United Church of God—have openly declared that racism is a grim evil that must be eradicated. More are ready to finally do something about it.

But at the same time, as societies—including America—move away from God's absolute truth of the Bible, well-meaning and needed reform is soiled by political activism and nefarious undermining of needed change. GovTech magazine recently published a report titled "How Disinformation Targeted Governments Amid National Protests" (https://www.govtech.com/security/How-Disinformation-Targeted-Governments-Amid-National-Protests.html). The report warned that many groups, ranging from radical organizations on the political right and left, joined by international bad actors, participated in inflaming the protests into riots.

When we see this, we must think about and ponder the prophet Jeremiah and the message he thundered. Jeremiah, probably the most reluctant of all of God's prophets, consistently delivered harsh messages that compared ancient Judah's behavior to depraved sexual deviation and sin. He did not mince words.

During Jeremiah's time, a great king of reform arose: Josiah. Early in Josiah's reign, a copy of the book of Deuteronomy was found in the neglected and desecrated Jerusalem temple that Josiah was cleaning up.

The book of Deuteronomy represents direct information from God given to Moses. That book specifically addresses what will happen to a people who backslide, who allow themselves to be secularized and who enthusiastically embrace an idolatrous way of life.

This is the time to read the messages of Jeremiah. This is the time to consider what God is saying to America, to Europe, to the world today. It is a time to consider prayerfully, with fasting, what God is saying to us. I believe that the time has come to cry out and show our people their sins!

Let us heed the words of Jesus, our Elder Brother and soon-coming King: "We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work" (John 9:4, Amplified Bible).

I will have much more to say about this in my next column.