What an incredible privilege the Lord has given me to write my first Viewpoint as a servant of this wonderful Gospel. I am grateful to God for the inspiring legacy that my predecessor, Brother Darrel Lee, left for us all. One important aspect of his legacy is keeping the Apostolic Faith Church a Christ-centered church. With the Lord’s help, we will continue to do that. Indeed, as you read this issue of The Apostolic Faith, you will notice that lifting up Jesus Christ is a common theme throughout every article.

As a university professor, I often teach about “reliability” and “validity.” “Reliability” refers to the consistency of a measure, while “validity” refers to the accuracy of a measure. We remind students that a measurement tool can produce a reliable (consistent) result that is wrong, which is not useful. A tool that produces a valid (accurate) result but does not do so consistently is also not useful. To be useful, the source of information must be both reliable and valid.

We live in a complex world that far exceeds humanity’s ability to measure and understand everything that is happening around us, much less to predict what will happen next. In every field, experts are asked to analyze and forecast outcomes, but they do so with limited success. Many of us have experienced disappointment after finding out that the systems and institutions of this world are not reliable. However, an article by Brother John Musgrave (read it here) reminds us that there is Someone we can believe, and that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How thankful we are that He meets both criteria of reliability and validity. His words are infallible. His promises are sure.

Brother John’s sermon also speaks of the fulfillment of prophecies related to the Lord’s return, reminding us again that Jesus’ words are true. In addition, the testimonies in this magazine point to the surety of Jesus’ words as well; Brother Ernest (read it here), Sister Jennifer (read it here), and the others have proven that we can trust and depend upon the Lord. Jesus Himself declared in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Without doubt, we are living in the last days before the Lord’s Second Coming. More than ever before, we need the reliability and validity that only Jesus can offer. It gives us so much joy to know that we can depend upon the Lord and His Word, and we pray that the contents of this magazine will inspire you to trust Him in all areas of your life. When we do that, He will do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).