Dear Brethren and Friends, Greetings from Charlotte! My wife and I returned from the Feast of Tabernacles tired, but happy. We visited fine Feast sites in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Panama City, Florida. Everywhere, we encountered hundreds of very enthusiastic and very dedicated brethren who are behind this Work of the living Christ, and filled with a sense of zeal and urgency to "get out the Message" to a dying world.
Here are some typical comments from coordinators at the various Feast sites: "Feastgoers are enjoying a foretaste of fellowship and the instruction of Tomorrow's World!…. We rejoice with all of you, knowing that together we are worshiping the God who soon will send His Son to rule the earth!"
"Enthusiastic members feasted on inspiring messages about distinguishing between holy and unholy lives, true freedom through total submission to God and the confidence we need to have in the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ. These messages are helping us learn to rule with Christ, and renewing our zeal to finish this end-time Work." "Messages have focused on a sense of urgency, our need for salvation, and optimism for the future."
Those quotes give a sense of the feelings of the brethren my wife and I encountered everywhere—and that most of our ministers report from all the Feast sites around the world. We, in the Living Church of God, realize that we are finally near the end of this world's society and truly need to become stirred up and "on fire" in finishing the Work of God. This mixed-up, confused world desperately needs the Truth we have to give. So it is a wonderful opportunity we have to serve Jesus Christ at this most exciting time in the history of the world.
We had fine Feast attendance everywhere. Growth is coming in a number of areas across the United States, Canada, Central and South America— as well as new groups coming with us in India and Africa. As prophetic events increasingly shake people's confidence in this present society, additional thousands will begin to act on the Truth and want to be a part of God's Church. We need to pray fervently for them and ask that God will guide us and help us to do our part in reaching these people—humbly welcoming them when they come into our fellowship—loving and encouraging them in every way we can.
Now, as I have mentioned before, we are in the process of greatly boosting the impact of this Work over the Internet. I have asked the director of the Tomorrow's World television program, Mr. Steve Stiffler, to shoulder the responsibility of Internet Coordinator, as well as to continue to direct the telecast. Since the "Industrial" television (the various Church sermons, Feast sermons, etc.) is now handled by others, Mr. Stiffler feels that he will have at least half or more of his time to devote to this effort. Additionally, I and a number of others on our Headquarters team are going to devote more funds and more effort to this vital project. As you know, we will reach an entirely different spectrum of people through the Internet than we may have been reaching before—and open up unlimited possibilities in communist China, India and elsewhere. Please join us in praying fervently about this project!
Also, we have recently been informed by our station representative, Mr. Dick Janik, of a good potential for going on television in the United Kingdom! With a combined population of some 60 million in the British Isles, this has huge potential! Soon we will be meeting with Mr. Janik and the individuals involved in this project. We will be praying that God will guide it for good, so that we can finally reach the "Mother Country" of the English-speaking world with a kind of power that has never before been accomplished in modern times. Again, your fervent prayers will be greatly appreciated.
Just days after we returned from the Feast, my wife and I traveled to Gladewater, Texas, for the funeral services of Dr. Lynn Torrance, who died in September at age 86. Dr. Torrance lived a long, eventful and very fruitful life. He died peacefully in his own bed at a ripe old age—living nearly 17 years longer than did King David 3,000 years ago.
We can be grateful for the life, the service and the example of Dr. Torrance. As so many of you in the South and areas of the Midwest know, Dr. and Mrs. Torrance traveled regularly to visit various churches and to encourage and inspire the brethren, even though he was an octogenarian. His dedicated, faithful wife did the driving for him and has always been a warm and encouraging individual to God's people, as was Dr. Torrance himself.
Although I am not able—at my own age and with the responsibilities I carry—to attend everyone's funeral, I was grateful to be able to be there for the funeral of Dr. Torrance. For I knew him back in 1953, when he first came into God's Work. I was, temporarily, the "acting" Superintendent of Imperial Schools, and he was the Principal. In many different situations, I was able to work with Dr. Torrance through more than 50 years, and found him a most dedicated and inspiring individual.
Many of you may have heard Dr. Torrance tell of his remarkable experiences in a Japanese prison ship and later a Japanese concentration camp at the end of World War II. As he often told his students, when you are virtually suffocating down in the hold of a prison ship, you are not thinking about "pretty girls and good times!" Your first need—and main interest—is air! Then, you begin to realize the need for food. Later, you may think about your clothing, your appearance and other matters. But the things we Americans often think we "need" are at the very bottom of the list when you are in real trouble—as untold millions of people have experienced, even in modern times in the prison camps of Adolph Hitler, Emperor Hirohito and elsewhere on this earth. It is good for all of us to meditate on this—and on what is really important.
Mr. John Ogwyn, Dr. Torrance's immediate supervisor and pastor, told me that as he visited with Dr. Torrance and his wife, on the night before he died, Dr. Torrance's last thoughts were about his sermonettes planned for the Feast. He said, "Would you want to take my notes so that someone else could give these sermonettes in case I am not able to?" Dr. Torrance realized that his body was giving out, and he was having trouble breathing. But, his last thoughts were of serving the brethren!
This reminded me of the life of the patriarch Jacob. Remember how, in Genesis 49, he gathered his sons together to explain what would befall them in the "last days" (v. 1). Then, after this prophetic discourse, he charged them to bury him where Abraham and Sarah had been buried. Finally, "when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people" (v. 33). So Jacob was positive in his outlook. He was focusing upon the "end time" fulfillment of God's promises to the tribes of Israel—and on what his sons should be doing after his death. He was not moaning and pitifully crying out to God in a morbid fear of death.
Similarly, as Moses died, he told his successor Joshua, "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
So, dear brethren, as a number of us leave this physical existence over the next 10 or 15 years, we need to realize what is most important: the Kingdom of God, and our preparation for it. We, too, should tell those we may be leaving behind to focus on the vital opportunities to serve others and be involved in God's Work and be preparing for His Kingdom—the very purpose of human existence.
We all need to be positive. For, although serious trials and troubles are certainly ahead, as Moses told Joshua about our God, "He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
Brethren, now that we are back from the Feast, let us review our sermon notes and pray fervently that God will energize us with a spiritual zeal surpassing anything we have ever experienced. For the end of this society is coming, and we need to be ready!
