Living Church of God World Ahead Weekly Update

As the Southeast picks up the pieces from last week’s storms, and Texas tries to recover from devastating wildfires, floods from spring rains now threaten vast portions of the American Midwest (see News and Prophecy). Is God trying to get our attention? With troubles mounting in modern Israelite countries around the world, what a privilege it is that we in this Work know why these things happening, and can help others to understand it as well!

Here in Charlotte, Dr. Meredith has been working on a new semi-annual letter this week, and Mr. Wayne Pyle reports that KCAL, our new station in Los Angeles, is “off and running” after its first airing last week. The Finance Department reports that the income is holding steady just above budget, which is encouraging. Our weekly Sabbath attendance (not Holy Day) is showing a good increase as well, with year-to-date averages running at 8.9% above last year in the United States, and 7.4% worldwide. Dr. Douglas Winnail reports that “the trip to the UK has been very profitable and the Regional Conference was very inspiring and productive. It has been very encouraging to see the growth that has occurred here.” He also commented on the warmth and focus of the brethren and on the camaraderie of the leaders in the UK, Ireland, and Belgium. Dr. and Mrs. Winnail will be returning to the “States” tomorrow, May 6. Area Pastors, please also note the need to take a survey in your congregation(s) regarding personal hymnals, either this Sabbath or next (see announcement below).—RMc

As our Church attendance has grown, our stock of hymnals has dwindled. As we prepare to order additional hymnals, we are looking into making personal copies available to brethren who are interested in buying them. Personal hymnals would be identical to the current hymnals, but burgundy in color, and between $7 and $10 (including shipping). We are also looking into making available the choice of either ordinary or spiral binding (spiral bound is what the songleaders use). Personal hymnals would be ordered later this summer, but we need to determine a rough idea now of how many brethren would be interested in buying a personal hymnal.

We would like to share with you the encouraging healing of one of our local Charlotte congregation members, who was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Lupus two years ago. Being newly baptized, she was looking forward to her first Passover this year when this flare-up occurred, which almost took her life: “I was hospitalized via ambulance due to my loss of consciousness and inability to walk late on Wednesday evening, April 13, 2011. After being secured in the ambulance, my vital signs were taken and then repeated several more times. The EMS driver insisted that there was an error with my blood sugar tests. He then proceeded to prick both my fingers and toes and could only gather a blood sugar reading of 12. After speaking with his manager, he then offered me a glucose substance that was designed to raise blood sugar levels… I was delirious and brutally exhausted at this point in the ambulance and refused the glucose. But, in a rather convincing manner, the driver insisted that he couldn’t pull off without me taking it for fear that ‘we’ wouldn’t make it there. So I complied. At my arrival to the ER my blood pressure was merely 56 over 40-something. My heart rate was pulsing at 150/160m my temperature was 102.9 and my blood sugar was still only a 20…

“After several days of uneasy thoughts looking around being released after the Passover, my husband took the initiative to contact Mr. League for my anointing. Saturday evening after Sabbath services, Mr. League and his lovely wife paid me a visit; he anointed me, and left me feeling hopeful. Miraculously, I was discharged on Sunday afternoon, went home, greeted my two small children, bathed, and slept until it was time for me to keep my first Passover. I am extremely humbled at the thought of God intervening on my behalf, I’m undeserving and unworthy of such a blessing—needless to say, I can only credit the turn of events to Him, and for that I am beyond thankful.”

San Francisco and Concord: Thirty-six stimulated and enthusiastic guests joined in San Francisco with 64 excited and welcoming members to hear Mr. Ames’ informative and thought-provoking presentation titled, “What’s Ahead for America?” The majority of guests remained after the presentation, mixing with Mr. and Mrs. Ames, members, and asking questions, while enjoying refreshments.

The follow-up presentation was conducted on April 30 in Concord, California, and was titled, “Where Is God’s Church Today?” There were 56 in attendance with five returning from the initial presentation and three new guests joining 48 members. One guest, who attended Mr. Ames’ presentation attended Sabbath service held that morning. Those guests in attendance requested a variety of our literature, and shared in refreshments and fellowship, while inquiring about future Sabbath services.—Harold Way

Our Online Bible Study continues to have a solid core group of approximately 30 teens who log in every week to participate in the interactive Bible Study. We are currently moving through the book of Genesis, reviewing the lessons and inspired history recorded in God’s Word. If your teenager is not linked into the study group yet, it’s not too late! Just go to our youth website (www.livingyouth.org) and click on the link at the bottom of the page to join in. The study room opens at 7:00 p.m. EST every Sunday evening, with the hour-long study beginning at 7:30 p.m. Parents are welcome to check out the Bible Study as well. Don’t miss this opportunity to put modern technology to work, studying the timeless instructions of God. The Bible is for teens too!

It’s not too late to submit an entry for our annual Essay Contest. This is a great way to earn free tuition to summer camp! Just put your writing skills to work and create an essay with the title, “What Is a Real Christian?” The essay should be 500 to 600 words. The deadline for submission for your essay is Sunday, May 15. With a little effort, you might just win a camp scholarship!

In addition to the Essay Contest, we are also offering a limited number of need-based scholarships. For more information, just go to www.livingyouth.org. You will also notice that we are instituting a “Foreign Exchange” Scholarship to give the opportunity for travel to a Summer Camp overseas. Again, check out the details at our youth website.

The European summer camp for 2011 will be held at “Domaine de Chevetogne” in Belgium. The dates for this year’s camp are arrival on Sunday, August 21, and departure on Sunday, August 28. The cost for each person attending will be £85 (sterling). Accommodation is in a dormitory building, where Sabbath services, Bible studies, meals and sing-a-longs will also take place.

Schedule permitting, activities will include hiking/orienteering, water-skiing, leather work, music, Bible and Christian education, volleyball, soccer, basketball, nature discovery, PowerPoint presentation skills, budgeting, speech and initiative training. We have one Sabbath for relaxation and spiritual instruction, and the week will culminate with a special Sabbath dinner followed by a sing-a-long.

Application Forms are available from the UK Church Office (livingcog@btconnect.com) or from Mr. Rees Ellis (rellis@lcg.org) in Belgium. Camper and staff applications are to be sent to the UK Office (livingcog@btconnect.com) with an e-mail copy to Mr. Rees Ellis. Please direct any e-mail communications to livingcog@btconnect.com with copy to rellis@lcg.org.

Plans for the Feast of Tabernacles 2011 continue to move forward. Festival coordinators will be participating in an online Web meeting this coming Tuesday, May 10, as we prepare to post the site activities for the Activity and Volunteer Registration on June 26. As a reminder, all brethren will be invited to come back to the MyLCG (www.cogl.org) website on Sunday, June 26, to sign up for activities and volunteer opportunities at the Feast site they are attending. Mark your calendars!

We have had a recent change in Headquarters Internet administration. Our Internet Operations Manager, Mr. Charles Ogwyn, has decided to serve in the “non-career” ministry. For now, questions concerning Web and Internet issues should be directed to Mr. Bill Bowmer (who is serving as an Interim Internet Coordinator) or to Assistant Webmaster Mr. Mark Smith.

We made a breakthrough this week by assigning all Canadian postal codes to 43 Designated Market Areas (DMAs) in Canada, which has been our goal for a number of years. This was a monumental task with thousands of postal codes, but we finally got it done. DMAs are the market areas assigned by Nielsen Research, which is the premier TV ratings company in North America. Because of this breakthrough, we now know that Toronto, Canada, is the number two market area in North America (north of Mexico), second to New York City in terms of TV response to the Tomorrow’s World TV program. We were also happy to see Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada is our sixth-highest DMA. There are 210 DMAs in the United States, plus 43 in Canada, for a total of 253 DMAs. The DMAs provide us with the current number of TV households and the number of households which actually view the Tomorrow’s World program each week. The statistics are especially helpful to us because they are unduplicated by adjoining cities and market areas, which otherwise can be a serious problem in overstating TV responses and TV broadcasting coverage. We want to be as accurate as possible in our reporting.—Wayne Pyle

Logging Off. Are you addicted to the Internet? In a new study of university students from ten countries—including the U.S., Mexico, China, Argentina, and the UK—all respondents reported “distress, isolation, confusion, boredom, and a feeling of addiction” when they had to go just 24 hours without any form of media (“Students face withdrawal, distress when cut off from Internet,” http://arstechnica.com). But it’s not just young people. A separate study reported that “Smartphones among moms has risen 64% over the past two years, and 51% of moms say they are ‘addicted’ to their smartphone” (“Moms Mobile Addiction,” www.mediapost.com).

What about us in the Church of God? Jesus warned us that “cares of this world,” like weeds in the garden, can choke spiritual growth (Matthew 13:22). Are we following the world around us and allowing ourselves to be lured into an endless string of digital activities? Or can we shut down our machines from time to time and get outdoors—to the real world? The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of God’s creation (Exodus 20:11) and prime time to re-connect with Him. Let’s take the time on the Sabbath to be inspired by sunsets, awed by the stars above, and grounded in the reality of our purpose! As God’s people, we and our families need to make sure we are periodically logging off from the virtual world—and logging in to what’s real.

EU Attempts to Merge France and the UK? Many are angered in Britain “after a European Union plot to ‘carve up’ Britain by setting up a cross-Channel region was exposed.” For several years people have known of EU actions to increase cross-border cooperation between England and France. However, recent efforts to “raise the profile” of the project have brought major criticism, especially in Britain. Millions of pounds are earmarked for frivolous projects, including a bike path that winds between the two countries, repeatedly stopping at one side of the English Channel and continuing on the other side. “Senior Tories condemned plans to merge southern England and northern France into a territory called “Arc Manche” complete with its own flag.” Critics view the effort as an attempt to “erode national identities.” Ultimately, this action is resulting in increased public outcry for Britain to leave the EU (Daily Express [UK], May 2, 2011). British outcry against Brussels could continue to weaken British-EU relations. End-time prophecy indicates that the final European Beast power will likely consist of primarily “gentile” nations, ultimately taking Israelite-descended nations like Britain into captivity (Hosea 9:3, 17; Deuteronomy 28:36). As we watch events occurring in Europe, we should expect to see actions that further alienate Israelite-descended nations. For more information on this fascinating topic, be sure to review our booklet entitled, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy.

Rain and Flooding. January witnessed devastating floods across Australia. Colombia has been and is currently experiencing “some of the heaviest rains” in its history—with hundreds dying, more than 140,000 homes damaged or destroyed, and more than three million affected (Seattle Times, April 29, 2011)! The central U.S. is flooding too. One recent headline reads: “Forecast: Almost half of the USA at risk for spring flooding” (USA Today, March 18, 2011). As a result of snow melt and powerful spring storms, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently “blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee in a bid to save several towns in Illinois and Kentucky…” One government official estimated that this action will “cause $1 billion in property damage” as the river floods over a hundred thousand acres of farm land and destroys hundreds of homes (Reuters, May 3, 2011). Officials still expect a flood surge not seen since 1927 (Associated Press, May 3, 2011). More than 12 million people live along the Mississippi—the backbone of commerce for the central U.S. And, the region is responsible for more than $7 billion of agriculture and forest products (www.visitbimiji.com, May 4, 2011). Forecasters predict continued “extreme” global weather conditions for this year, with major flooding and severe rains in some regions, while other regions continue in intense drought (Guardian.co.uk, February 4, 2011). God predicted long ago that one of the signs of the end of the age would be droughts in some cities while other cities experience severe rains and flooding (Amos 4:7-9). In addition, because of Israel’s sins, God promises plagues of blight, mildew and devastating hail (Haggai 2:17).

Texas Fires Roaring. While Australia, Colombia, and the American Midwest are suffering from catastrophic flooding, much of the state of Texas is experiencing some of its driest conditions in history. Additionally, vast portions of the state are ablaze! Since the fire season began in November 2010, more than 9,100 fires have been responded to, 2.5 million acres have burned, and hundreds of homes have been destroyed (Reuters, April 20, 2011; Texas Forest Service, May 4, 2011). Aside from the devastation to real estate, tens of millions of dollars in damage has been experienced by Texas agriculture—crops and cattle (Statesman.com, May 4, 2011). Many of the homes burned so far have been very large—and would be considered small “palaces” by many around the globe, and even in the U.S. Forecasts predict the dry conditions to continue across much of Texas for the foreseeable future. God promised that, due to the sins of the Israelite-descended nations and their rejection of Him, He would “send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces” (Hosea 8:14). Watching destruction and suffering is sobering and sad. Yet God predicted this destruction as long as humanity continues to reject Him (Hosea 7:13-16).—James and Sue Bennett, Deborah Lincoln-Strange, Scott Winnail