employee letter

Holy Scripture tells us that our High Priest Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). This profound truth is reflected in the historical Christian doctrine that Jesus, through his incarnation, assumed a vicarial role. The Latin word vicarius means “to serve as a representative or deputy for someone.” With his incarnation, the eternal Son of God was placed under…

While Tammy and I were waiting in the lobby of an airport to board our flight home, I noticed a young man sitting two seats away who kept looking over at me. After a few minutes he asked me, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Joseph Tkach?" He was happy to talk to me and told me that he had recently been disfellowshipped from a Sabbatarian congregation. Our conversation soon turned to the law...

Every year on December 25th, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary. The Bible does not provide any information about the exact date of his birth. It is likely that Jesus' birth did not take place in the winter when we celebrate it. Luke reports that Emperor Augustus ordered the inhabitants of the entire Roman world to register for tax purposes (Luke 2:1), and "everyone went to be registered, each to his own town," including…

For many years I fasted on Yom Kippur, the most important Jewish holiday. I did so in the false belief that by abstaining from food and drink on that day I would be reconciled with God. Many of us certainly still remember this misguided way of thinking. However it was explained to us, the purpose of fasting on Yom Kippur was to achieve our reconciliation with God through our own works.

We watch in fascination as the magician, wrapped in chains and secured with padlocks, is lowered into a large water tank. Then the top is closed and the magician's assistant stands on top and covers the tank with a cloth, which she lifts over her head. After just a few moments the cloth falls and to our surprise and delight the magician is now standing on the tank and his assistant, secured with chains, is inside. This…

I find it amusing when people declare, "If I can't see it, I won't believe it." I often hear this said when people doubt that God exists or that he includes all people in his grace and mercy. To avoid causing offense, I point out that we cannot see magnetism or electricity, but we know that they exist through their effects. The same is true of wind, gravity, sound, and even thoughts. In this…

Sometimes we approach the Christmas celebration of the incarnation of God's Son with so much enthusiasm that we let Advent, the time when the Christian church year begins, fade into the background. The Advent season, which comprises four Sundays, begins this year on November 29th and heralds Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The term "Advent" is derived from the Latin adventus and means something like "coming" or "arrival". In Advent...

In our culture, the word miracle is often used rather carelessly. For example, if a team manages to score the winning goal in extra time with a deflected 20-meter shot, some TV commentators might call it a miracle. In a circus performance, the director announces that an artist will perform a miracle quadruple somersault. Well, it is highly unlikely that these are miracles, but rather...

Motherhood is one of the greatest works in God's creation. This came to mind when I was recently thinking about what to give my wife and mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I fondly remember the words of my mother, who often told my sisters and me how happy she was to be our mother. Giving birth to us had given her a whole new understanding of the love and greatness of God. I could only begin to understand this when our own...

Many of you know that when I travel, I like to express my greetings in the local language. I am happy to go beyond a simple "hello." Sometimes, however, a nuance or subtlety of the language confuses me. Although I have learned a few words in various languages ​​over the years and some Greek and Hebrew in my studies, English remains the language of my heart. It is also the language in which I pray. By speaking about the…

Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus gave humanity a value that far surpasses anything we could ever achieve, earn, or even imagine. The Apostle Paul described it this way: “I consider all these things a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have lost all these things and consider them rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Paul knew that a…

Last month, several GCI pastors participated in a hands-on evangelism training called “Outside the Walls.” It was led by Heber Ticas, the national coordinator of the Gospel Outreach Ministry for Grace Communion International. This was done in partnership with Pathways of Grace, one of our churches near Dallas, Texas. The training began with classes on Friday and continued on Saturday morning. Pastors met…

There will probably always be someone who claims to be a prophet or believes they can calculate the date of Jesus' return. I recently saw a report about a rabbi who supposedly connected Nostradamus's predictions with the Torah. Another person predicted that Jesus's return would take place at Pentecost 2019. Many prophecy enthusiasts try to draw a connection between current news and biblical prophecies. [Kark…]

I have an important question for you: How do you feel about non-believers? I think that is a question we should all think about! Chuck Colson, founder of the Prison Fellowship and the Breakpoint Radio Program in the USA, once answered this question with an analogy: If a blind person stepped on your foot or spilled hot coffee on your shirt, would you be angry with him? He himself answers that we probably wouldn't be, precisely because a blind person...

Although God's wonderful forgiveness is one of my favorite subjects, I must confess that it is difficult to even begin to grasp how real it is. God intended it from the beginning to be His bountiful gift, a costly act of forgiveness and reconciliation through His Son, culminating in His death on the cross. Through it, we are not only absolved, we are restored - brought "into line" with our loving Triune God. In His book...

Here in the United States, Black History Month is observed each year in February. During this time, we celebrate the many achievements that African Americans have made for the good of our nation. We also remember the suffering that has spanned generations, from slavery to segregation to ongoing racism. This month reminds me that there is a history in the church…

In one of his early films, John Wayne says to another cowboy, "I don't like branding iron work - it hurts if you stand in the wrong place!" I found his comment quite funny, but it also got me thinking about how churches can damage the gospel through inappropriate use of marketing techniques such as heavy advertising of branded products. In our past, our founder was looking for a strong selling point...

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) became known as "the ultimate atheist" because of his disparaging criticism of the Christian faith. He claimed that Christian scripture, especially its emphasis on love, was a byproduct of decadence, corruption and revenge. Rather than even remotely considering the existence of God to be possible, he famously declared that the great idea of ​​a God had died, "God is dead." He...

When asked about the oldest living thing, some may point to the 10.000-year-old pine trees of Tasmania or a 40.000-year-old shrub that lives there. Others may think of the 200.000-year-old seaweed on the coast of the Spanish Balearic Islands. However old these plants may be, there is something that is far older - and that is the eternal God, who is revealed in the Holy Scriptures as living love. The essence of God is manifested in love. The…

Happy New Year! I hope you had a blessed holiday season with your loved ones. Now that the Christmas season is behind us and we are back at work in the office in the new year, as is customary in such cases, I have been sharing with our employees about the holidays spent. We talked about family traditions and the fact that the older generations can often teach us something about gratitude. In a…

Often when I travel, I am asked to speak at Grace Communion International church services, conferences, and board meetings. Sometimes I am also asked to give the closing blessing. I often refer to the blessing Aaron gave to the children of Israel in the desert (the year after their flight from Egypt and long before their entry into the Promised Land). At that time, God instructed Israel on how to implement the…

As a young teenager, I was sitting in a movie theater when the power went out. In the darkness, the murmuring of the audience grew louder with each passing second. I found myself suspiciously trying to find an exit as soon as someone opened a door to the outside. Light streamed into the theater and the murmuring and my suspicious searching were quickly ended. Until we are confronted with darkness, most of us take light for granted. However, there is…

No matter what your situation is, no matter how bleak things may seem, our merciful God remains faithful and is our ever-present and loving Savior. As Paul wrote, nothing can separate us from God or isolate us from his love: "What then can separate us from Christ and his love? Suffering and distress perhaps? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger or violent death? We are treated in the way that Scripture describes: Because we belong to…

Towards the end of his Gospel, we find these fascinating comments by the Apostle John: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book [...] If they were written down one by one, I suppose that even the world could not contain the books that would have to be written” (John 20:30; 21:25). Based on these remarks and considering the differences between the four Gospels, it can be concluded that…

Theology is important to us because it provides a framework for our faith. However, there are many theological streams, even within the Christian community. One characteristic that is typical of the WCG/GCI as a denomination is our commitment to what can be described as "Trinitarian theology." Although the doctrine of the Trinity has been widely accepted throughout church history, some have called it the "forgotten doctrine" because it is so…

When I saw this scientific formula for happiness in a Psychology Today article, I laughed out loud: although this absurd formula produced momentary happiness, it did not produce lasting joy. Please don't misunderstand me; I enjoy a good laugh as much as anyone else. That's why I appreciate Karl Barth's statement: "Laughter is the closest thing to God's grace." Although both happiness and joy can make us laugh, there is a difference between...

The Book of Nehemiah, one of the 66 books of the Bible, is probably among the least noticed. It contains no deeply felt prayers and songs like the Psalms, no grand account of creation like the Book of Genesis, and no biography of Jesus or the theology of Paul. Yet, as the inspired word of God, it is just as important for us. It is easily overlooked when leafing through the Old Testament, but we can learn much from this book—…

Another new year has begun. Many people have made New Year's resolutions. These often relate to personal health - especially after all the eating and drinking during the holidays. People all over the world are committing to exercising more, eating less sweets and generally wanting to do many things better. Although there is nothing wrong with making such resolutions, we Christians are missing something in this approach. These resolutions all have something...

I occasionally speak with believers who have difficulty understanding why the Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, is God—one of the three persons of the Trinity. I usually use examples from Scripture to show the attributes and actions that identify the Father and the Son as persons, and how the Holy Spirit is described as a person in the same way. Then I list the many titles by which the Holy Spirit is referred to in the Bible…

Among philosophers and theologians, it is known as the mind-body problem. It is not a problem of fine motor coordination (like drinking from a cup one sip at a time without spilling anything or missing a dart). Instead, it is a question of whether our bodies are physical and our thoughts are spiritual; or, to put it another way, whether people are purely physical or a combination of physical and spiritual. Although the…

On September 20th, the Jews celebrated the New Year, a festival with multiple meanings. It celebrates the beginning of the annual cycle, commemorates the creation of Adam and Eve, and also commemorates the creation of the universe, which includes the beginning of time. While reading about the topic of time, I remembered that time also has several meanings. One of them is that time is an asset that billionaires and beggars alike have. We all have 86.400…

I assume that you have experienced times of despair when you have begged God to intervene. Perhaps you have prayed for a miracle, but evidently in vain; the miracle did not come. Likewise, I assume that you have been very happy when you learned that someone's prayers for healing were answered. I know a lady who, after praying for her healing, grew a rib. The doctor had advised her, "Whatever you do, do...

This letter is my last monthly letter as a staff member of GCI, as I am retiring this month. As I reflect on my tenure as president of our denomination, I am reminded of many blessings that God has bestowed upon us. One of those blessings has to do with our name - Grace Communion International. I believe it beautifully describes our profound change as a community. By the Grace of God...

Recently I saw a video parodying a TV commercial. In this case, it was about a fictitious Christian worship CD called "It's All About Me." The CD contained the songs: "Lord I Lift My Name on High," "I Exalt Me," and "There is None Like Me." Strange? Yes, but it illustrates the sad truth. We humans tend to worship ourselves instead of God. How...

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a huge admirer of the cult figure of Sherlock Holmes. I own more Holmes merchandise than I would like to admit. I have visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street in London many times. And of course I love watching the many films that have been made about this interesting character. I am particularly looking forward to the new episodes of the latest BBC production in which the…

Every year on Easter Sunday, Christians around the world gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Some people greet each other with a traditional greeting. It goes like this: "He is risen!" In response, they say, "He is risen indeed!" I love that we celebrate the good news in this way, but our response to this greeting can seem a little superficial. It's almost like adding a "So what?" That made me…

In September (this year exceptionally on October 3rd), Jews celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which means "Head of the Year" in Hebrew. A Jewish tradition is to eat a piece of a fish head, symbolizing the head of the year, and to greet one another with "Leshana tova," meaning "Happy New Year!" According to tradition, Rosh Hashanah is connected to the sixth day of the week of creation, when God...

Jesus, the eternally living Son of God, became a man. Without this event, there can be no true Christianity. The Apostle John put it this way: “By this you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now in the world” (1 John 13:14).

The Advent and Christmas season is a time of contemplation. A time of reflection on Jesus and his incarnation, a time of joy, hope and promise. People all over the world announce his birth. One Christmas carol after another rings out over the airwaves. In the churches, the festival is celebrated with nativity plays, cantatas and choral singing. It is the time of year when you would think the whole world would learn the truth about Jesus, the Messiah.…

Intent on offering her only the best, I took Tammy (my wife) to Burger King for lunch (your taste), then to Dairy Queen for dessert (something different). You may think I should be embarrassed by the blatant use of the company slogans, but as they say at McDonalds, "I love it." Now I have to ask you (and especially Tammy!) for forgiveness and put the silly joke aside. Forgiveness is a key in building and...

A popular English phrase is "The lady, I think, protests too much" from Shakespeare's Hamlet, which is used to describe someone who tries to convince others of something that is not true. This phrase comes to mind when I hear atheists protesting against atheism being a religion. Some atheists support their protest with the following syllogistic comparison: If atheism is a religion, then "bald" is...