Greetings everyone,
I hope that you had a great Passover season. My wife and I returned to San Diego Tuesday from New York City to find the usual backlog of e-mail and phone messages waiting. Today (Thursday) I am almost out of the hole and ready to begin what passes for a normal life in the office!
Mr. and Mrs. Meredith will arrive at the San Diego airport within an hour or so from their trip to Southeast Asia. I am sure he will want to give you a personal report by letter of his journey as soon as he is over jet lag and other encumbrances.
I had a very enjoyable visit to the area pastored by Mr. Paul Shumway. Mr. Shumway serves the vast New Jersey, New York and New England area. Paul and Gloria are wonderfully warm folks with a fine family. We spent two days and three nights with them at their home in Allentown, Pennsylvania, near Hershey, PA—and you know Hershey's chocolate has a strong attraction to some people! My wife says that she MUST EAT CHOCOLATE—to keep her eyes brown! I want you to know that her eyes are very brown since she visited the Hershey chocolate factory, and I think I see a slight browning in the eyes of some help here in the office since our return.
We had a wonderful visit with over one hundred brethren in New Jersey on the last day of unleavened bread. The following Sabbath we met with over fifty brethren at Chicopee, Mass. Sunday and Monday we visited with Mr. Roger Allgeyer, who is an Elder, and his wife Linda on Long Island. They took us into New York City to view the Twin Towers ruins and other sights. What an incredible devastation wreaked by a handful of vicious men. A recent report by Loyds of London indicates that the physical damage costs will exceed 3.8 billion dollars, without counting the personal human suffering and loss.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Meredith and Mrs. Kathryn Ames appreciate very much the many cards and expressions of condolence at the loss of their sister Patricia Biggar. Please thank the brethren for their kindness, prayers, and concern.
Living Church Youth—from Mr. Gerald Weston
Attention all Living Church of God youths! Summer camps will be held in at least 4 locations this year. Northwoods Camp near Pickford, Michigan is open to teens ages 13-18. Pre-teen camps for youths ages 8-12 will be held in Missouri, Texas, and California. For further information please see the latest Living Church News or go to www.youth-web.org on the Internet. Applications can be downloaded from our web site. Because the Living Church News came out later than expected, we are extending the deadline to May 6. We will accept applications after that date, but your chances of being accepted will be diminished. Don't miss this opportunity for fun and fellowship with your fellow LCG friends!
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WESTERN REGIONAL LYC Pre-Teen Camp:
The LYC Pre-teen Camp in the beautiful Sierra Mountains of California welcomes all Living Church of God youth, ages 8 to 12 as campers! The camp experience will begin Sunday afternoon, June 30 and run through Friday morning, July 5.
This is the opening event for the youth in the Western region to get together to experience new challenges and new friendships with Christian direction in God's way. This NEW camp location will follow in the outstanding tradition of our youth camps in Michigan, Missouri and Texas. Come join us for five fun filled days at 6,000 feet elevation with warm sunny days and cool nights.
Possible activities include basketball, table tennis, flag football, arts and crafts, health & fitness, exploration hikes, entertainment & performing, nature awareness, first aid and Christian Living classes. The evenings will close around the campfire with games, skits and songs.
The Sierra camp for pre-teens will provide a wider circle of friendships with other youth in the church, and a foundation for the Teen Camp in Michigan. This is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to build friendships and lasting values, along with great activities!
Please contact Dr. Jeffrey Fall to request your application for the following categories:
- A camper
- Adult staff
- High school staff
The application deadline is April 30. Dr. Fall may be contacted by e-mail, telephone or by letter:
[email protected]
Phone: (626) 914-1474
Address: 1040 Coronet St., Glendora, CA 91741
NOTICE TO PASTORS:
Mr. Meredith has approved the first week of February 2003 for the next ministerial conference. Plans are in process of formulation, so please submit any suggestions or items for discussion to CAD.
INTERNATIONAL
Mr. Dibar Apartian returned from his Passover journey this week. He reports:
"From Quebec to Louisiana…" No, this is not the title of a novel. Nor is it an additional episode to Napoleon's decision to sell for practically nothing a good portion of the U.S.A. to the Americans! It is simply a brief report of the Passover trip my wife and I just completed. We literally had a "white" Passover celebration in Montreal, as we found over a foot of snow on top of our cars when we walked out of the meeting hall. Amongst the 34 mainly French-speaking brethren who took the Passover, 8 were former members who now are with the Living Church of God. The attendance reached 43 on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then over 50 on the weekly Sabbath with the arrival of a new group of people seeking the Truth. "The Montreal church has doubled its size," remarked a smiling Jacques Secours, our local Elder.
While in Montreal, we contacted the St. Jerome Radio Station management who agreed to air our French broadcast, LE MONDE DE DEMAIN, twice every Sunday. Finding their terms and conditions acceptable, Mr. Gerald Weston, our Regional Director in Canada, gave us the green light to go ahead. (Thank you, Mr. Weston).
A few days later, my wife and I left the "chilly" Montreal (I do mean Montreal, not Montana!) for the sunshiny Arkansas and Louisiana. What a change in temperature! On the last day of the Feast, the Monroe and the Alexandria churches were combined for a happy celebration and a wonderful fellowship. May I add that my return to San Diego was highlighted by a Texas size thunderstorm that "held me captive" at the Little Rock and Dallas Airports for several hours. Nevertheless, the whole trip was very exciting!
Mr. Apartian's report reminds me of our need to welcome with a sincere heart those who choose to join us from other fellowships, in anticipation of a peaceful fellowship with us in the Spirit of Christ. I expect many of our former brethren will yet join us in this Work of God, if we receive them in love and humility.
Mr. Jonathan McNair reported by telephone that the open service and lectures in Jamaica last week were well attended and received. We will have a complete report next week, but I believe that over thirty new people attended, and many stayed for discussion afterward.
Mr. Roderick McNair reported that Mr. Meredith spoke in Manila last Sabbath and joined him in a meeting this week. Rod McNair and his wife Dana are enroute to Los Angeles today (Thursday). They will spend the night with Dana's parents in Glendora and drive to Sacramento Friday.
COMMENTS
The ongoing conflict in Israel is a living testimony to the wisdom and love of God. Does that statement sound strange?
Many years ago Dr. Kenneth Taylor wrote, in the forward to a volume of "The Living Bible," that he had great difficulty when writing the section of the Old Testament including the story of Israel's wars of conquest of the Promised Land. He asked, "How could a loving God command the death of innocent men, women and children?"
The answer lies in God's understanding. God knew that if the tribes in Palestine were not completely driven out of the land there would be the kind of ongoing violence Israel is experiencing today. Further, he knew the character of the people, and the depth of hatred that would ensue. For this reason He informed Moses and Israel, "I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee" (Exodus 23:27).
The people in the land were informed and could have left the land—and I believe many did. The Gibeonites certainly understood and sought to circumvent dispossession; "And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing" (Joshua 9:24).
Another example is the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3) "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."
Why? Verses 1 and 2 give the answer: "Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. (2) Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt."
The Amalekites laid ambushes for the people of Israel—and God determined they should be expelled or exterminate for that heinous crime.
Ancient Israel did not obey God's voice upon entrance into the land. Consequently they and the tribes of the land lived—and still live—with the miserable consequences.
Israel (Judah) today is mired in a no-win war. Why? Is it because they have neither sought nor yet seek and obey God? From Independence in 1948 until the present, secularism and orthodoxy have divided the nation. Israel has been like an unbaked cake that is burnt on the outside and soggy on the inside—and there is no resolution of the condition by the hand of man.
Where will it end? Perhaps the prophecy of Zechariah 12:2-11 is in the foreseeable future, particularly verse 9: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."
What an exciting time to be living and a part of the Work of the Living God! We are living in the days leading to the grand slam climax of man's foolish to rule himself without submission to the Rule of God.
Have a great Sabbath and keep safe.
Carl McNair