Greetings from Charlotte,
Postal strikes in the U.K. are crippling an economy already reeling from the upheaval in the wake of BREXIT, COVID lockdowns, and inflation. And here in the United States and Canada, this last week saw what has been described as a “once in a lifetime” winter storm affecting much of the continent, with heavy snow in some areas and biting windchills in much of the remainder. Meanwhile the Work goes on. As reported in the video update this week, we have a new French-speaking congregation in New Caledonia, where Mr. Rob Tyler and Mr. Graeme Hemphill recently spent several days and baptized four individuals. Mr. Peter Nathan reported that the funeral for Mr. Ephraim Abok, in Kendu Bay, Kenya, was an extraordinary event, attended by more than 2,500 people. Relatives, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, politicians, and Church members gathered to pay their last respects to this remarkable man and servant of God. To see the hopelessness, and their reaction to death, of so many supposedly biblically literate people who have no comprehension of the purpose of life is enough to cause one to weep deeply. Mr. Armstrong long ago advised the ministry that a funeral was a chance to preach the Gospel to the living. And that was certainly the case here. Our elders from Tanzania and Burundi were present for the funeral. The Kenyan brethren enjoyed meeting their brethren from other areas.—Gerald Weston
Living Education
Living for Tomorrow – L4T
For young adults ages 18–30, we are in the final planning stages of our first L4T of 2023. This event will be held over President’s Day weekend, February 17–20, and will be conducted at Camp Eagle Rock, west of Branson, Missouri. This is a beautiful site to get together with other young adults for an uplifting Sabbath, enjoyable activities, and focused presentations. The activity will begin on Friday evening, with departure on Monday morning, February 20. Registration will begin next week, so plan to sign up and make this weekend a highlight of your winter!—Jonathan McNair
Comments
Watch and Be Ready! Jesus told His disciples to watch for the fulfillment of Bible prophecies that indicate the end of the age and His second coming are near (Matthew 24:42–44). These prophecies also reveal that many will be surprised because they don’t understand the prophetic significance of world events they see in the news. God has given His Church a “more sure word of prophecy” so His Church can function as a watchman to warn His chosen people and the world (2 Peter 1:19–20 KJV). The moral decay and declining influence of the Israelite nations (Leviticus 26:14–19; Deuteronomy 31:29), the resurgence of militant Islam (Daniel 11:40), and the movement toward a united Europe (Revelation 17:12–13) promoted by an ecumenically oriented papacy (Isaiah 47:8; Revelation 17:1–5)—all point to end-time events outlined in Bible prophecies. As we see these prophecies come together, we need to draw closer to God and continue to watch world events so we will not be surprised when Christ returns (1 Thessalonians 5:1–6).
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
News and Prophecy—December 29, 2022
Saudi Arabia and China Build Bonds: For decades, America and Saudi Arabia have had a marriage of convenience. Saudi Arabia provided the United States with access to oil and the U.S. provided Saudi Arabia with security—until recently. Some say the relationship began faltering after the September 11 attacks in 2001, when it was discovered that the majority of the terrorists involved were Saudi nationals. More recent events have fed the decline in relations between the nations.
Now China is reaching out to Saudi Arabia in a significant way, signing a major communications agreement and cooperating with missile technology. As China comes out of lockdown, one of Xi Jinping’s first state visits was to Saudi Arabia. As Foreign Policy titled its analysis of the situation, “Xi’s Saudi Visit Shows Riyadh’s Monogamous Marriage to Washington Is Over” (December 7, 2022). Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter to China and provides a large market for Chinese products. President Xi is currently on much more friendly terms with Riyadh than Washington D.C. Although the U.S.-Saudi relationship will likely continue for a while, as the Foreign Policy article makes plain, Saudi Arabia is no longer content with only one wife, and it is actively courting new ones.
Bible prophecy uses a similar analogy about the end of the age and the coming punishment on Israelite-descended nations. “All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you,” God says. Why? He explains it is “for the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased” (Jeremiah 30:14). Nations long allied with the American and British peoples are prophesied to turn on them as the Israelite peoples reject God and lose His favor. As we look around the globe today, it is important to watch for more of these once-friendly relationships to end or turn sour. To discover more about prophetic events, be sure to listen to “Ezekiel’s Message Unlocked.”
Brain-Computer Interfaces: As technology continues to advance, one cutting-edge area focuses on brain-computer interfaces, or BCI (The Conversation, December 2, 2022). This new technology has many applications from the biomedical field to defense arenas. However, ethicists fear the technology is rushing forward while crucial ethical questions remain unanswered.
Medical science is seeking to develop BCI that will assist people with brain injuries to lead fuller lives. Others seek to extend human abilities into new areas. Elon Musk’s Neuralink company is developing a brain implant that will allow people to communicate silently with anyone possessing a similar implant. Similarly, DARPA—the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—is developing the technology to enable soldiers to communicate with each other without speaking. Other applications could include operating military equipment and weaponry just by thinking about them. Some researchers hypothesize that some type of device could be embedded in a person’s brain to suppress fear and worry, with the potential to alter how soldiers process and evaluate the morality of a decision or command.
While the advances made possible through this cutting-edge technology are exciting to some, ethicists fear that they could also be used for evil purposes. God anciently confused the languages of humanity to slow our ability to develop anything we could imagine, unrestrained by godly morality. But science is now a global enterprise, and language is rarely a barrier. Increasingly, it seems that “nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (Genesis 11:6), as God warned would be the case. It remains to be seen how much longer He will allow mankind to “progress” before Jesus Christ returns to set up a new God-centered society. To learn more about this exciting yet sobering future, be sure to read or listen to Armageddon and Beyond.—Scott Winnail, Francine Prater, and Chris Sookdeo