Dear Friend,

Just a few minutes ago our media operation manager, Peter Eddington, walked into my office with great news that we've received our first e-mail responses to a major push we've begun to expand the readership of The Good News magazine. We are placing full-page ads in the April editions of Reader's Digest and American Baby and the May issue of Parents magazine. These ads offer a free two-year subscription to The Good News, and also two of our popular booklets, The Middle East in Bible Prophecy and Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension.

Since it is early March, we weren't expecting the Reader's Digest responses to start so soon, so this was a pleasant surprise . . . and an alert for our mail processing center to be ready to fill the thousands of orders to come.

If you are missing either of these booklets, just order online and we'll send them to you. We love demonstrating how God's Word is relevant today, offering guidance for your life now and understanding of tomorrow's events. The marriage and family brochure presents invaluable biblical advice on topics such as dating, building a healthy marriage and positive child development. The Middle East booklet guides you through prophecies literally unfolding around us today, showing how this will change your world and what God says you can do about it.

We are excitedly anticipating a surge of at least 80,000 Good News subscribers from these ads. Thank you for your support in working with us to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. As society continues to "lose its grip" on how to live, and seems to growing deaf to the warnings of all the global threats, we need more than ever to sound the clear voice of reason that is found only in God's Word.

However, it is becoming more and more a lonely place to stand, when you make a stand for God. Why is that?

Why is it that we are witnessing in our Western culture a rapidly growing interest in Eastern and New Age religions, a growing disinterest in God and a distinct drift away from Christianity's fundamental moral precepts?

Why is Christianity becoming irrelevant to many people, openly mocked by skeptics and under increasing attack by others? How is it that so many nations morally founded on core biblical principles have seen those standards erode, replaced by a "do as you please" philosophy? It is distressing to watch, daily it seems, people push the boundaries of morality and values far beyond what was unacceptable only a decade or two ago!

Where is Christianity in this? When you study in the Old Testament the history of Israel and Judah, and you see how they progressively wandered away from God and into moral decay, the parallels are alarmingly similar to our world today! Another chilling lesson rises from their story: God laid the responsibility for their demise primarily at the feet of the religious leaders of the day, the ones who should have been teaching, warning and crying aloud to convict the people to turn from their wrong ways.

What about today? The fact is Christianity is becoming increasingly irrelevant because it is muddling around in its own opinions rather than God's Word, and therefore is not able to agree on even basic matters of right and wrong. Too many religious leaders today, at best, present mixed messages about God and His way of life. And some, at worst, actually pollute God's Word by justifying and promoting sinful behavior!

Is it possible that people are turning away from God because Christianity itself has wandered away from Him?

When Jesus Christ walked this earth, He preached a message full of hope for the future, but He commanded listeners to change today and obey God. He spoke with strength, unwavering conviction and clarity—never did one hear the voice of moral wavering or confusion in Him. His disciples, after His death and resurrection, assumed the leadership of His newly established Church and led it in unity with the same conviction and inspiration. No less is required of His messengers today!

If God resurrected those same disciples today and they saw the world of modern Christianity, they wouldn't recognize it. The Christianity of the 21st century is simply not the same as that of the first century—the Church you read of in the New Testament. Ironically, many religious leaders today rejoice in that, proudly proclaiming that today's church is "progressive," meeting people's needs in their own cultural context. This philosophy isn't new—its ancient roots crept into the church as early as the end of the first century—but it is taking us down a dangerous road. The Church should change the culture and the people, not the other way around.

No, rather than becoming progressive and modern, that's where the Church began to stray. Humanity today needs to clearly hear the undistorted, straightforward truth of God. As the apostle Paul noted, "For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?" (1 Corinthians 14:8).

We are striving to make that certain sound and, again, thank you for your interest and help. If we can be of help to you in any way, ranging from providing literature to providing pastoral support, please feel free to correspond with us. Until next time, may God be with you.

Sincerely,

Clyde Kilough
President
United Church of God