The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Revelation 1:3-7, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood–
6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father– to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

Being retired has more blessings than I would ever have imagined! I won’t go into specifics, lest you, dear reader, lay aside this small letter in hopes of gaining the joys which surpass it. I will only say that I am currently working my way through Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost’s huge book, Things to Come. It gives insight into what the Scriptures teach of the world situation at the time of our LORD Jesus Christ’s Return, and when the Church is caught up in what is known as the Rapture. Not to discourage your reading it, but it is not for the faint of heart.

Christian Churches of all denominations seem to be in difficulty. For sometime, we’ve all read about the troubles Methodists and Presbyterians were encountering. But, the Southern Baptists have lost thousands of members over the past few years. Have you not noticed this? Have you not wondered what was really going on? Yes, much of it is theological in nature. Yet, far too much of church troubles today centers around money! Men who have never been “called” by the LORD to minister, thirst for money and so work their way into church leadership positions. Some of them, I dare say, have never been saved!

Satan has always been at work discouraging churches. Yet there seems to be a plethora of discouragement invading churches today. Churches desperately need to renew true worship. We who know Christ Jesus in His free pardon of our sin, need to pray more fervently than ever before! Pastors need to dig more deeply into the meaning of Scripture and feed the flock of
believers, who are hungering to be and know more than we are and do.

Let me ask of you what I have asked of myself: How would we respond in worship were we
aware that Jesus would be in our midst next Sunday? Just remember: He IS in our midst and
behave accordingly.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom