Greetings everyone:
Well! good NEWS — bad NEWS! The good news—at last the presidential election has reached a conclusion of sorts. The bad news—that scores of lawyers and judges now turn to other interests! I presume they will find something profitable to do. Seriously, we are truly hopeful that our nation is restored to some sense of normalcy.
As a global work, we are aware that stability in the government of the United States is critical to us. We in America are no more important to God than our brethren in any other country. However, the economy and freedom to support a cohesive work is predicated upon North America.
One is tempted to ask, "Will America learn from this experience?" If yes, what conclusions will be drawn, and what actions will be taken? Will the conclusions be as divergent as we have seen in the court decisions?
Perhaps more importantly to us, what will we learn from this experience? One must wonder if we in God's Church have allowed ourselves to become political partisans in the process, reflecting anger (or worse) toward one or another of the participants of the "contest."
Personally, I found myself thinking very non "Christ-like" thoughts toward some of the participants. I had to take a step back, to remember why Mr. Armstrong taught that Christ's teaching was not to be involved in this world's politics and resultant wars.
This is a very public example of the evils which develop when the government of the church is politicized. As James, brother of Jesus wrote:
James 4:1 "From whence come wars and fightings [or, brawlings] among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts {pleasures}that war in your members?" James is saying that the cause of quarrels, often sought in external circumstances, are from internal lusts, which are the true origin.
Let us now pray that the President Elect will have the strength and leadership ability to surmount the obstacles to effective government. Pray that he selects competent people for his cabinet, and that those who would thwart effective government will not be able to prevent confirmation by Congress. Christ said a house (or government) divided against itself cannot stand. While we should pray for the President Elect to heal the division caused by the recent fracas, the real challenge is to redirect a government which has for eight years been gutted morally and philosophically by the Chief Executive thereof.
Small wonder that TV moguls feel free to introduce "Queer as Folk" to pay TV this season. The critics (Newsweek) are raving about how "honest, engaging… wonderful" the program is," eliciting extravagant enthusiasm from our nation's TV critics." We are no longer "slouching toward Gomorrah." We are plummeting into Gomorrah.
COUNCIL OF ELDERS MEETING
The Council of Elders met Monday (all day) and Tuesday morning this week. A number of doctrinal and administration matters were discussed. Mr. Meredith and Mr. Bryce made very encouraging reports on the growth of the Work in the USA and Canada. I expect we will have a complete report of the growth of the Work shortly after all reports are collected and assimilated.
Our festival attendance now appears to have exceeded 5,500 in daily attendance. We are now working on site evaluation and selection for 2001. We will inform you in due time.
INTERNATIONAL
Mr. Charles Bryce reported that the Canadian work has grown very well this year, increasing Tomorrow's World circulation ninety-five percent over last year. We have almost surpassed the point of circulation before the disruption of 1998. Mr. Bryce and his staff are hoping to enlarge our TV (or possibly Radio) coverage in the future.
Mr. Syd Hull has requested an increased allocation of Tomorrow's World magazine for the Republic of South Africa. I expect we will increase our bulk shipment to him beginning with the next issue.
Concluding thoughts:
We live in a world inhabited by many unhappy people. Why is this? Compared to the physical living conditions of mankind for the majority of history, we live in paradise. By having electricity, running water, natural gas, and all the comforts they bring into our homes we have the equivalent service benefit of a dozen servants a hundred years ago. And a modest dwelling today would compare favorably with the dwelling of the most affluent merchant one thousand years ago. The information from around the world available to us today is more complete than that available to the ruling class within a county or canton in medieval Europe.
So why are we so unhappy? Consider the following thoughts for this week:
"The happiest people are those who discover that what they should be doing and what they are doing are the same thing." Anonymous
"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." Anonymous
"Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness." George Orwell
"If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow." William Lyon Phelps
Have a great Sabbath—keep safe and keep warm!