Greetings from San Diego,
I hope that all of you are having a good springtime. It has been cool here in San Diego this month. This is a real blessing in that the electricity consumption of air conditioners is reduced—and costs are minimized. We hear that a number of power generating plants have been returned to service, so the power crunch is now somewhat lessened. Some folks think the power companies have aggravated the power shortage as a means of increasing the price of power and to force government regulators to push through construction of new plants. The environmentalists (extremists at least) have fought to reduce nuclear and coal-fired generation of electricity, and even the building of natural gas plants are under attack by some of the most extreme. I guess they want us to go back to horse and buggies! I wonder if they are prepared to live without the amenities they have inherited from their fathers?
MEDIA SERVICES:
Living Church of God sermon editing policy
By Richard Ames
A few comments have been received from members in the field regarding the ³edit points² which appear as gaps or fades in Sabbath sermon tapes sent from San Diego. Some have expressed the concern that they are "missing" something that was said during the sermon. So that the ministry will have an explanation when asked, here is why sermon videos are edited:
All of the sermons made here in San Diego and duplicated for distribution to Church congregations, video groups and scattered brethren, and are also posted on the Internet. All of us have, at one time or another while speaking, fumbled, stumbled or started to say one thing then backed up and said another to clarify our point. This is true for Evangelists as well as Elders. If tapes were simply being distributed to congregations, then perhaps more of these human foibles and mistakes would be perfectly acceptable. However, when sermons made at Headquarters are also shared with the general public—and over the Internet—we must treat the presentation with the same care that we do the Tomorrow's World telecast. Both Dr. Meredith and I have the luxury of stopping during the telecast and starting a portion again if we make a mistake either in speaking or in the clarity of the point we are trying to make. Of course, this is not possible during a live sermon before a congregation. The telecast is edited by Mr. Dick Quincer, who inevitably must stretch out or shorten the presentation to meet television time restraints. This requires, in some cases, the editing of a few words here and there without limiting the effectiveness of the message or the points being made. This same process is applied to our editing of church sermons. Sneezes, throat clearings, coughs, misspeaks, corrections and so on that we make live to our audience are "cleaned-up" in the editing process to make the sermon more listenable.
Never, ever is doctrinal or other substantive content altered without the knowledge and permission of the speaker. The full meat of the sermon is presented. A "little of the fat" may be trimmed to aid the overall listenability of the presentation.
I am sure that most of you men understand that articles submitted to Tomorrow's World magazine and the Living Church News are not simply printed in their original form. That is why we have an editorial department to clean up grammar and punctuation, to lengthen or shorten articles to fit space and to correct any factual errors that may occur. This, of course, is for the benefit of our readership—not to hide anything from them. Whenever our material, written or spoken, is made available to the general public, we must be careful how it is presented. Because of limited personnel and equipment, edit points in the sermons are more obvious than they would be if we had all of the technical equipment, time and personnel needed to do a better job of it.
I hope this information will help you explain why edit points exist in weekly Sabbath sermons, should someone ask.
SAFETY STATISTICS:
Occasionally we see ridiculous and illogical conclusions drawn by special interest groups. Unfortunately non-thinking public and government officials accept their pronouncements as valid, and they impose incredibly stupid legislation to "cure the problem." Mr. Glen Gilchrist sent me the following story that illustrates how illogicality works.
The number of physicians in the US is 700,000.
Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year—2,000
Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 (U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services)
The number of gun owners in the US: 80,000,000.
The number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) 1,500.
Accidental deaths per gun owner: 0.0000188
Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners!
FACT: Not everyone has a gun, but everyone has at least one doctor.
ACTION: Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand!
While I suppose I should apologize to those of you who are doctors (for the above example) it truly illustrates how illogical people may use "facts" and develop flawed programs.
INTERNATIONAL:
Philippines update—Mr. Rod McNair
In the following report by Mr. Tex Benitez, he mentions some critical matters to pray about for our brethren in Salvador, near Maranding. "Greetings from Maranding: There is a terrifying occurrence here in Maranding. The Mayor of Salvador, next to this town, was ambushed by unidentified men just a couple of kilometers from Maranding proper. The Mayor was not killed nor hurt. Trouble between Muslims and Christians seems to begin again in the town of Salvador. We have many members in the town of Salvador, staying with their farmlands with their working animals. Their neighbors are Muslims. They are in real danger. They can not leave the place they have, growing crops and their livestock… Last week two Christians were killed while travelling to their farms. And one family home was fired upon by Armalite [weapons] by Muslim rebels. Christian lives are always in danger on the farms and in travel, now that the Muslims are united in their objective for a Muslim Republic… During our Sabbath service here in Maranding, we had a long conversation with our members in Salvador about their situation. I asked them what services the Church could extend to them in this troubled time. They don't want to evacuate because their livelihood is in their farm… We had a successful Sabbath service the other day in Iligan. The brethren joined together at potluck after the service visiting and fellowshipping. They were all fine and in good spirit."
From Mr. Gorgonio de Guia's report: "… Mrs. Consorcia Suralta is at I.C.U., De Los Santos Hospital, after having had a stroke for the second time. Requesting for your prayers for her."
Mr. de Guia continues with the following positive news: "But something wonderful happened to Benji de la Cruz. He got sick (bedridden) and he requested for anointing about a spinal column and headache problem. He called at home in the morning, I told him I can only come and anoint him in the afternoon (because of distance). He suggested, "Why not pray by telephone?" So, I prayed by telephone, and after one day he was back to his driving work. He was at Sabbath services to tell the brethren about his experience."
Festival Department
Thank you for your diligence in gathering and forwarding the information requested for planned attendance (June 9th). It is being tabulated by our staff and will be forwarded to the Festival Coordinators very soon. This is a great help for Festival planning.
Mr. Doug Winnail reported today that a problem has developed in using the hotel meeting room for the Irish feast site. He has been forced to secure another hall for the Sabbath during the Feast—in a CASTLE! Can you beat that? That makes me want to change my feast plans! Those of you going over best take along some "castleberries"!
Conclusion:
We often hear Mr. Meredith speaking about "growing the work" which is, of course, his duty. This reminds me of something Mr. Armstrong said repeatedly; "If we are not growing we are dying." Just as we should strive to grow individually, the Work of God must grow accordingly.
Having grown up on a farm, I have had some experience growing corn. And there is a parallel between growing the Work of God and growing corn.
After proper preparation of the soil, corn is planted when the temperature of the soil is warm enough to germinate the seed. After the plant sprouts it breaks through the crust of the soil reaching for air and sunlight—aided by moisture and nutrients from the soil.
A farmer must till the soil as the young plants grow to prevent grass and weeds from overshadowing the corn plant and from robbing it of nutrients and moisture from the soil. This is usually a period of frequent rains and continues until the corn plant has reached sufficient height and root system to sustain growth. Even then a farmer may till the "middle" between the rows to prevent grass and weeds from propagating and "going to seed," which leads to a greater fight against them the following year.
After the corn plant has attained a certain height it is not possible to drive a tractor through the field without damaging the plant—it is then "laid by" until harvest time. Typically, there is a dry hot period during the summer following "lay by" of the crop during which the corn plants develop a deeper and more elaborate root system. The deeper roots draw up minerals from the sub-soil that improve the nutritional quality of the fruit, thus a dry hot period serves a beneficial purpose.
Interestingly, the dry period in early August was also essential to allow the hay crop to be cut and cured for storage.
While we are each engaged in personal growth as a part of the "Harvest of Christ," we are called to collectively do the Work of God. We are the early harvest, but we participate in cultivating and harvesting the "Big Harvest" pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles!
I sincerely hope we all share the vision of Christ, and in His Work. What great joy we will have in His Kingdom when we see those brought in through our labor of love and sacrifice. Those who have gone before us in this Work of God will rejoice over our inclusion in the Kingdom of God—and in the fruit of our labor.
Have a great Sabbath and Father's Day! Travel safely.
Carl E. McNair