Greetings everyone:
The southern California area is suffering from drought right now—San Diego County currently stands at about 28% of normal rainfall. You may have heard of the wildfires in this part of California. All members in San Diego are safe as I write, but the Fallbrook fire seriously endangered Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fuller. Mr. Fuller is a professional beekeeper, and he was away on business when the fire seriously threatened their home. We believe that God mercifully spared Mrs. Fuller, their home and Mr. Fuller's equipment. Many expensive homes in the Fallbrook area, outbuildings and pets were lost in that wildfire.
As mentioned last week, the General Ministerial Conference (2002) held in San Diego was greatly appreciated by the 172 ministers and wives who were able to attend. Some of our church elders were unable to attend because of the time of year, personal health or other conditions beyond their control. Also, two of our fulltime ministers and their wives were unable to attend due to health problems in their families.
In his keynote address Mr. Meredith spoke on the "Restoration of Apostolic Christianity." He emphasized three characteristics that distinguish the Living Church of God:
- Preaching the full truth—following the teaching of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong—and as Christ commanded His disciples before His ascension (Matthew 28)
- Continuing the Work as God provides the means (Ephesians 4:11)
- Teaching and practicing the Government of God
I believe you will receive a conference summary article in the next Living Church News, so I will not pre-empt the article.
I might add a personal comment concerning the gospel message. The gospel of Jesus was about the Kingdom of God, not a social "feel good" message. Jesus exemplified the positive effects of the Kingdom of God in action, the love of God and love toward fellow man. His message was the GOOD NEWS of a coming Kingdom that will usher in a government of love—for a change!
The apostles of Christ in the first century were men of conviction, integrity and tenacity. We have reason to believe that, during the Apostolic Age, tens of thousands of people heard the gospel directly from those who were eyewitnesses to the ministry and resurrection of Christ—a marvelous accomplishment. Yet, because of the media tools available in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, tens of millions around the world have had a witness by the Work of God. And now we have an additional tool that makes it possible to reach the entire population of the world with the true gospel of the soon-coming Kingdom of God. What a wonderful opportunity—and responsibility—has been committed to us! The following Media Report illustrates the potential.
Media Report—from Mr. Richard Ames
Last week's Tomorrow's World telecast, "Unlocking the Book of Revelation," set a record for telecast response! Mr. Wayne Pyle reports that we are expecting a total response of more than 2,400 for this program, topping the previous record by more than 300. Another encouraging milestone from TV: as of this week, we have 140 stations in our Television Log!
And, among "hits" to our web site was our first recorded activity from the tiny nation of Malta, and from Morocco in North Africa—bringing to 143 the number of countries that we can document as having visited our sites.
CAD—announcements:
I am happy to announce that Mr. Meredith has approved Mr. Rand Millich as the Regional Pastor over the Southeast Region, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and parts of Tennessee and Alabama. [Mr. Martin Fannin and Mr. Ben Faulkner will now report to Mr. Millich]
The Atlanta region was absorbed into Mr. John Ogwyn's and Mr. Lambert Greer's regions when Mr. Charles Bryce moved to Canada in 1999.
Mr. Greer will now absorb the Northeast region. [Mr. Paul Shumway and Mr. Ken Frank will report to Mr.Greer]
This change will allow Mr. Ogwyn a little "breather" from the incredibly vast area he has served, and Mr. Gerald Weston will be free of the Northeastern USA duties so that he can concentrate more on his direction of the Canadian Work.
We appreciate your loyal support in the past, and I sincerely hope that the reconfiguration will help us to serve you even better, with less strain on the men who really extended themselves for the past three years.
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Normally I do not broadcast information I receive concerning scams, but I think the following is important considering that we are all vulnerable to credit fraud through identity theft and other fraudulent schemes.
The Michigan Department of Treasury recently received an alert from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about a fraudulent scam being conducted by e-mail, that you should look out for.
Some taxpayers have received e-mail from a non-IRS source indicating that the taxpayer is under audit and needs to complete a questionnaire within 48 hours to avoid the assessment of penalties and interest. The e-mail refers to an "e-audit" and references the IRS Form 1040. The taxpayer is asked for social security numbers, bank account numbers and other confidential information.
THE IRS DOES NOT CONDUCT E-AUDITS, NOR DOES IT NOTIFY TAXPAYERS OF A PENDING AUDIT VIA E-MAIL. THIS E-MAIL IS NOT FROM THE IRS.
Do not provide the requested information. This may be an identify-theft attempt. If you receive e-mail of this nature (the source may be the address: blesstheday.com), please contact immediately the IRS office in your area.
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Also, the following information is the heart of a message that was sent to me from a reliable source. If you determine that you have been victimized by identity theft, the following numbers could be helpful to you in sorting out and rectifying the situation. Otherwise these numbers should not used:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
Social Security Administration (fraud line):
1-800-269-0271
Conclusion:
We are now only about six weeks away from Passover! Dr. Meredith, Mr. Ames and Mr. Apartian are planning trips out for Passover, and they will announce them once they are confirmed. I plan to remain in San Diego for Passover, then travel to the New York area for the last day of Unleavened Bread.
I am looking forward to seeing the brethren in Seattle/Tacoma this Sabbath. And next week, with God's blessing, I will visit some in Helena, Montana. I look forward to the Big Sky experience!
Have a great weekend, and please travel carefully. The roads in the Northern states can be treacherous at this time of year.
Carl McNair