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August 16, 2019
Dear Brethren,
Every time there is a mass shooting, as we had recently, politicians, news pundits, psychologists, and religionists are at a nearly complete loss as to the causes of such evil. This has been a problem for mankind down through the ages. While the reasons in specific cases may be complex, the ultimate cause is quite simple: America has turned its back on God and has forgotten the laws of God. Today, we have a fake Jesus and a fake Christianity—and everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes! Thus, people do not understand why there is so much evil.
When men and women leave God, leave any sense of right morality, Satan moves in and evil quickly saturates all levels of society, exactly as God says: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink [and drugs], who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
“Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame burns up the chaff, their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel.
“Therefore, the anger of the Lord is kindled against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them, and has stricken them. And the hills trembled, and their dead bodies were as filth in the midst of the streets. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still” (Isa. 5:20-25). Yet if there is no national repentance, more horrendous evil and grievous calamities will continue to besiege this nation—and the world!
Jesus warned that evil and lawlessness would increase, and that the love of many would grow cold (Matt. 24:12). The very worst of human nature would manifest itself: “For from within, out of the hearts of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evils go forth from within, and these defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23).
During the final years of Judah, before Jerusalem’s destruction in 539 BC, God spoke through Jeremiah, condemning their evil and wicked ways. He called on them to repent. But just as it is today, they would not listen! Notice: “ ‘For everyone from the least of them even to the greatest of them is greedy for gain; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them, they shall be cast down,’ says the Lord.
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But, they said, “We will not walk in it.” Also I set watchmen over you, saying, “Hearken to the sound of the ram’s horn.” But they said, “We will not hearken.”
“ ‘Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation [the churches of God today], what will happen to them. Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkened to My words, nor to My law, but have rejected it’ ” (Jer. 6:13-19).
And true to God’s words, evil and calamity are getting worse and worse!
Why This Rain-drenched Spring? This year we have seen record amounts of rainfall across the United States—especially in the Midwest. Nearly all of the major rivers have been at, or over, flood stage. This has made it impossible to plant millions of acres of the choicest farm land in America—with corn, wheat, barley, and soybeans—until the first part of June. Experts are warning of an enormous shortfall at harvest time. The most dire forecasts are warning of food shortages—in America!
It is possible that these warnings may come true. However, there is another factor that people have not considered: All such predictions are based on the Roman Civil Calendar. But weather cycles are based on God’s Calculated Hebrew Calendar (CHC), which presents a more accurate picture. The CHC is calculated on 19-year cycles, comprising 12 common years of 354 days and 7 leap years of 384 days. Whenever there is a leap year, an extra 30 days is added. You can see this because when there is a leap year the Passover is later. This year is a leap year, meaning that the planting and harvest seasons are later, when compared to the Roman Calendar.
One farmer in Canada, still active at 97 years of age, has kept a handwritten journal for 80 years on food production in Alberta. He found that weather patterns revolved around seven- and nineteen-year cycles—without any knowledge of the CHC. He has experienced everything—drought, flooding, excessive rains, locusts, heat, frost, hail, winds. He has planted as early as mid-March and as late as June—and has harvested as early as mid-August and as late as early December.
Considering this man’s experience, the late planting this year may be a “saving grace” for many farmers in the Midwest who planted their crops late. The harvest will probably be later, with an “Indian Summer,” thereby giving them an opportunity to have a reasonable crop in spite of all the rain and cold weather during this year’s late Spring.
Meanwhile, Prophecies Continue to be Fulfilled: We continue to see government gridlock, with the Democrats unwilling to cooperate because of their hatred of President Trump. We have budget upheavals; an increasing national debt; a trade war with China; wild ups and downs of the stock market—despite an exceptionally strong economy. Yet Jesus warned that we should not let ourselves be lulled into complacency because times may seem to be good economically: “Now as it was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all.
“And it was the same way in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. This is how it shall be in the day that the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30).
At the same time that things may seem normal, there are still wars and rumors of wars; riots against oppressive governments; famine and pestilences; droughts and floods. But, as Jesus said, “See that you do not let these things disturb you. For it is necessary that all these things take place, but THE END IS NOT YET” (Matt. 24:6).
While there may be periods of relief from time to time, as long as the nations of the world are under the sway and deception of Satan the devil, the god of this world, there will be no peace. We will only continue to witness chaos, turmoil, and lawlessness—which will affect everyone on earth. We can expect to see all of the prophecies of the Word of God fulfilled—in their proper time and to the utmost degree. Jesus warned His saints, His people, and the world: “Then shall many be led into sin, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another; and many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; and because lawlessness shall be multiplied, the love of many shall grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:10-14).
The Spirit of the Truth and the Spirit of Deception: Jesus admonished His disciples to watch and be on guard. Likewise, the apostle Paul warned of deception in the last days: “Now the Spirit tells us explicitly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, and shall follow deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy, their consciences as having been cauterized with a hot iron” (I Tim. 4:1-2). We have seen it time and again with both members and elders: some apostatize because they are not truly grounded in the truth.
What happens when people do not believe and live by the truth of God? “For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but according to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; and they shall turn away their own ears from the truth; and they shall be turned aside unto myths” (II Tim. 4:3-4). We have seen this repeatedly over the years.
Remember, truth leads to more truth, error leads to more error, and deception leads to more deception. But throughout this process people can still repent and choose to believe and obey the truth of God. If they do not repent, they will only go into further deception: “But wicked men and imposters shall become worse and worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves” (II Tim. 3:13).
As people continue to believe lies rather than the truth, God will ultimately “give them over” completely to their delusions. This is what will happen to the world when the Antichrist—the final beast of Revelation 13—comes on the scene and goes into the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. “And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming); even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because THEY DID NOT RECEIVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, so that they might be saved. And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:8-12). The prophet Isaiah describes this total deception of the world like this: “[T]he face of the covering which covers all people, and the veil that is woven over all nations” (Isa. 25:7).
In the book of Revelation, the apostle John identifies this deception as a “spiritual drunkenness” of the kings of the earth and all who dwell on the earth: “And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and spoke with me, saying to me, ‘Come here; I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters [peoples and multitudes and nations and languages, verse 15], with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’ Then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, full of names of blasphemy. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and pearls and precious stones; and she had a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the filthiness of her fornication; and across her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:1-5).
Truly, Satan is deceiving the whole world—but we are of the truth, the truth of the Word of God. This is the “dividing line” God has established, as we see in I John: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this test you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was to come, and even now it is already in the world.
“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He Who is in you than the one who is in the world. They are of the world; because of this, they speak of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God; the one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not of God does not listen to us. By this means we know the Spirit of the truth and the spirit of the deception” (I John 4:1-6).
Keep Ourselves in the Love and Truth of God: In these trying times, we need to keep ourselves in the love and truth of God through daily prayer and study, and through living by the truth and in the commandments of God. If we stumble and sin we need to confess our sins, for God is faithful to forgive us. Then, we need to keep growing in grace and knowledge as we develop the mind and character of Jesus Christ, exactly as John wrote: “My little children, we should not love in word, nor with our tongues; rather, we should love in deed and in truth. And in this way we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him, that if our hearts condemn us [because we have sinned], God is greater than our hearts, and knows all things [and forgives us upon repentance].
“Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God. And whatever we may ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and practice those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, exactly as He gave commandment to us. And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him; and by this we know that He is dwelling in us: by the Spirit which He has given to us” (I John 3:18-24). This is how we can remain, day by day, in the truth of God the Father and Jesus Christ, and remain in God’s blessings and love and in the hope of salvation for us and the world.
Even though we live in this evil world, do not be discouraged. God the Father and Jesus Christ have called us, given us the Holy Spirit, and will protect us with the holy angels. So we need to lift up our heads and stir up the love and Spirit of God within us, as Paul admonished Timothy: “For this reason, I admonish you to stir up the gift of God that is in you by the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound-mindedness” (II Tim. 1:6-7).
Brethren, once again, thank you for your love, prayers, and faithfulness in growing and overcoming, in serving the brethren, and in helping new people. As you pray for us daily, we pray for you daily—for your steadfastness in Christ, for your healing, and for God’s grace and favor to be upon you. Thank you for your continued support through your tithes and offerings. May God continue to bless you with His love and grace in everything.
With love in Christ Jesus,
Fred R. Coulter
FRC
