Dear Friend,
I am writing to you in the middle of some exciting and
thought-provoking meetings for the managing editors of many
of the United Church of God's publications (The
Good News, World News
and Prophecy, Vertical
Thought,
United News, Bible
Study Course and booklets), the
presenters of our Beyond
Today television program
and the manager of our corresponding Web sites.
I suspect that from the time of Jesus Christ, His followers
have always had energetic conversations about, "How
can we most effectively convey the gospel of the Kingdom
of God to the world?" We have unwavering faith in His
guarantee that this gospel would be preached as a witness
before His return. We also realize that He entrusted His
Church with communicating this message of hope for salvation,
and therefore we are always striving to find better ways
to fulfill this commission.
The "world" is a pretty complex place, but
the big questions of life apply to all humans alike. The
questions are really pretty simple, and the answers are found
in the gospel!
As a wise mother in a congregation I once pastored said
one time, "I have always taught my children, you have
to answer only four big questions in life:
1. Is there a God?
2.
Is the Bible
His Word?
3.
If so, what does He say?
4.
What are you going to
do about it?"
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What a great goal, and what a life-altering opportunity,
not only for a child, but for God's children of all
ages to have!
No matter how difficult these questions may be to search
out, or even if the answers challenge our comfort levels,
these are the core issues of life. Jesus cut to the heart
of the matter when He said, "…the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to
worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24).
The fact that you are reading this indicates that you are
interested in knowing the truth of these matters, and that's
good! We are eager to help you in a quest for the truth.
There is a God, and that can be proven—let
us help you. The Bible is His inspired Word, and
that can be proven—let us help you. And, although millions
of people and dozens of religions have argued over what God
says, the truth of that matter can also be proven—let
us help you!
We are thankful to have recently passed a major milestone:
the printing of our 4 millionth booklet! Thousands of people
like yourself are ordering our literature, all of it absolutely
free of charge, and thousands of others are reading it online.
All you have to do is explore this Web site and you will
find help in answering life's greatest questions. (View our
booklets online at www.gnmagazine.org/booklets/) As
you look into these topics, you will see that we don't really
answer the questions for you. We show you where to look—in
your Bible, in the creation all around us, in history and
many other sources—to
discover for yourself the irrefutable answers to the first
three questions.
What about that fourth issue? That's often the toughest
question of all. We have all been there, too, and when you
decide to do something about what God says, we're here
to help you with that as well.
Can you think of any more important questions with which
to grapple and search out the answers? You cannot start too
soon to find the answers!
 Sincerely,
Clyde
Kilough
President
United Church of God
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