It is comforting to know that we have the Living Church of God to rely upon for the truth as it presents a FORCEFUL message to the world. They will be soon so powerful with that message that a prophet will arrive out of them. Bob Thiel must be getting excited!
The problem with this message is that it is the same one that Meredith and others have been spouting for decades and still nothing has happened. But lo! It is always just a few short years away.
The Church as a Watchman: Many churches today feel their sole mission is to tell the world that God loves everybody and that Jesus came to save sinners. While essentially true, there is much more to the biblical message. Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14–15). Jesus also told His disciples to be alert and watch for specific events that would mark the approaching end of the age and His return to this earth to establish the Kingdom (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). These prophesied events—droughts, floods, famines, wars and spreading violence, religious confusion, and moral corruption—will be making news at the same time that we see the rise of a political power in Europe with definite links to the ancient Roman Empire. This power will be promoted by an ecumenical-minded Roman Church. This end-time European power will be confronted by a rising Arab-Islamic power in the Middle East (see Daniel 7and 11; Revelation 13). However, just as God raised up prophets to warn the ancient nations of Israel and Judah that their ungodly ways would bring serious consequences, the Church of God today has a similar mission to function as a watchman—to “Cry aloud, spare not” and warn modern Israelite nations of the coming consequences of their sinful ways (Ezekiel 2; 3; 33; Isaiah 58:1). Delivering this powerful warning message must accompany the preaching of the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail