Greetings From Clarendon 

After the Council of Elders (COE) in May, I travelled directly to the Philippines to visit with our members in the furthermost northern parts of the Island of Luzon in Isabella. They are a beautiful people and despite their challenges, are zealous for God’s Work and for the soon-coming return of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Recently I read a disturbing article in The Epoch Times that really highlighted the terrible state our world is in, and especially the challenges our young people are facing. The article was about a young teenage girl from New Zealand with so called “gender dysphoria”. Aparently, she watched a YouTube video explaining how to perform a self-mastectomy at home. I cannot imagine what must have been going on in her mind, but she ended up going to the hospital after mutilating her body. Now, advocates are using this incident to suggest the need for greater access to gender reassignment surgery for our children. How did we come so far, when only a decade ago, someone who would attempt to self-harm, would have been hospitalized as suffering from an active psychiatric disorder? She would have received a different kind of help.

Despite this girl being given a clean bill of health, research shows that children with gender dysphoria often experience a range of underlying mental health issues, including self-harm, suicidality, mood and anxiety disorders, depression, trauma, eating disorders, and autism spectrum conditions. How does this affect us? God’s people are identified as sighing and crying for the state of the world. “And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof” (Ezekiel 9:4).

Yet, seeing these things has sadly become all too common. Our challenge is to make sure we do not become indifferent like Mr Lot in Sodom who was like the frog in the pot, slowly spiritually cooking and not even realizing how compromised his own spiritual state had become. We too, can spiritually lose sight of just how sick this world has become. Some even in God’s Church have attempted to defend these types of behaviour. But let’s be clear, brethren, these things are an abomination to God. Yet, if it were not for the grace, love and mercy of our Father in Heaven, no flesh would be saved. What a blessing it is to keep the Passover to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice; “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).

We have a job to do! We have been called to do a great and important work in this end-time – to do as Isaiah said “cry out and tell my people their sins”, to give the Ezekiel warning that we are in dangerous times and finally, to preach the Gospel… which is the only good news this world has.

During the COE, Mr Weston mentioned a number of times that we are at the precipice of something awesome which could propel God’s Work forward in ways we have not seen before. With this in mind, please continue to pray for the growth of God’s Work and that through His inspiration, Mr Weston and the dedicated team in Charlotte can spearhead the way forward.

Finally, Nicole and I will be in Perth, WA for Pentecost and then Mr Martin Montgomery and I will be heading to New Zealand in June to conduct an Advanced Leadership Training Program with a number of our leaders there. Thank you all for your continued support for God’s Work. The body of Christ is not independent of each other and we are all in this together. Let’s strive to keep the unity of the faith as we go forward in faith towards the Kingdom of God.

Sincerely,

Robert Tyler
Regional Director