Weekly Update

Hello everybody,

Passover is only three weeks away! Several Headquarters ministers will be traveling during that season. Mr. and Mrs. Roderick Meredith will be in the United Kingdom. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ames will be in Milwaukee. Mr. and Mrs. Dibar Apartian will be in Martinique. Mr. and Mrs. Davy Crockett will be in Houston. By the way, Mr. and Mrs. John Ogwyn are currently on an extended fact-finding trip to Europe and Russia. They will be in Moscow this weekend. All of these travelers count on your prayers to God for their safety and guidance as they serve God and His people.

FROM OUR PRESIDING EVANGELIST

Thanks to all our loyal ministers for your encouragement and support during the recent Milwaukee crisis. Many of you worked long hours handling calls and inquiries from members and others as well. A number of our ministers worked almost constantly—during waking hours—trying to handle the situation relating to the media, to our own members and especially to those directly affected there in the Milwaukee area. This outstanding service was certainly rendered by Messrs. Charles Bryce, Rand Millich, Glen Gilchrist, Sheldon Monson and here at Headquarters by Mr. Davy Crockett. Also, many of our leading employees worked overtime and gave of themselves in this effort including Messrs. Tom Turner, Bill Bowmer, Josh Beattie and others.

In addition, Messrs. Bryce, Apartian, Ames and I have received dozens of encouraging and supportive phone calls, e-mails, cards and letters from many of you ministers around the world. Thank you, so much!

I personally was very encouraged by the kind and encouraging messages sent by Syd Hull, Bruce Tyler, Kinnear Penman, Michael Gill, Winston Gosse, Dexter Wakefield and others. I would like to share with you part of an especially encouraging letter from Mr. Stuart Wachowicz, our Elder in Edmonton, Canada. He writes:

"Only in the past two weeks I have had several calls from people in 'other' groups, who have told me that after reading Living's literature or hearing sermons on the web, or listening to the program on television, they recognized you are teaching the truth of the Bible, just as it was in the days of Mr. Armstrong. Many here are now seriously considering when they will make the switch to where God is really working. Some have also admitted to me that the defaming of yourself by some ministry in other groups had held them back, but now they are increasingly seeing through that deception.

The Living Church of God is preaching the Gospel, it is growing in all areas - it is doing the Work and God is blessing it. These are facts on the ground that the attackers carefully avoid in their comments. No wonder Satan is so desperate and brings these repeated attacks.

Please be assured that the brethren here, and I am sure around the world, are solidly behind you and the administration of God's Church. We are very grateful for your courage and leadership, as well as the loyal and zealous leadership of those around you, and the fine leadership and encouragement we have been receiving from Mr. Weston here in Canada.

We do pray for you regularly. There will undoubtedly be difficult times ahead. Despite the challenges and inevitable attempts by Satan to thwart the Work, please know that with God's help we in God's Church will echo through our actions the words of Winston Churchill, spoken in an hour of great danger and trial, when no one gave England a chance:

'We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down.'

Thank you again for your willingness to allow God to use you in directing the "spear point" of God's Work today."

Thank you, Mr. Wachowicz and all who wrote such kind and encouraging messages!

Well, that's all for now. Let me just say in closing that all of us need to keep on praying fervently for the survivors and their loved ones in the Milwaukee area. Also, we need to ask our heavenly Father to show us every single lesson we may need to learn from this tragedy and help us draw ever closer to Him and to His will in our lives.

Roderick C. Meredith

CHURCH ADMINISTRATION

Tammy Friz, wife of elder Mr. Dan Friz and mother of three daughters, is sill suffering with serious liver, digestive and mercury poisoning problems. Your prayers on her behalf for God's intervention will be greatly appreciated.

Frances Arnaldo

Mr. James Arnaldo, elder, requests our prayers for his wife Frances Arnaldo. Mr. Arnaldo reports: "My wife Frances has just been diagnosed as having three or four spots on her liver and will have a biopsy the early part of this coming week. Even though the biopsy on my wife's liver tested negative for cancer, when the doctors made other tests, they discovered a massive tumor in her stomach that was malignant, and also in her esophagus and just below the left ear. They are currently checking to see if it has entered her skeletal frame. Please continue to pray for her. She hasn't given up and truly believes (as I do) that our God will heal her yet."

The Festival Office hopes to have the 2005 Festival Planner in the mail shortly after the Days of Unleavened Bread. Naturally, we should all now be focusing our attention on the Spring Holy Days, picturing Christ's sacrifice and coming out of sin, which is offered for each of us now and ultimately all who are yet to be called. However, those who are planning to hold family reunions and/or get together with friends for the feast, here are the places where God has placed His name for this year's festival. Two contracts are not yet signed by the site management, so it would not be wise to try to make travel and housing reservations, until the Planner reaches you and any requested site transfers have been approved by Headquarters. For the meeting hall locations and other details, please wait for the Festival Planner.

Feast Site (Coordinator): Saratoga Springs, NY (Mr. Don Davis); Myrtle Beach, SC (Mr. Carl Ponder); Clearwater, FL (Mr. Rod Reynolds); Corpus Christi, TX (Mr. Bob League); Lake of the Ozarks, MO (Mr. Larry Solomon); Rapid City, SD (Mr. Sheldon Monson); Lake Tahoe, CA (Mr. Rod McNair); Taos, NM (Mr. Harold Way); Summerside, PEI (Mr. Mike Elertson); Mont Orford, Quebec (Mr. Jacques Secours); Canmore, Alberta (Mr. Eldon Davis). 

Have a great Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread!—Don Davis, Festival Coordinator

Living 4 Tomorrow – A Time 4 Young Singles (Michigan 2005)

Living Church of God young adults are invited to attend Living 4 Tomorrow – A Time 4 Young Singles at the beautiful facilities of the Northwoods Christian Camp, Pickford, Michigan. The L4T program is open to ALL singles between the ages of 18 and 30. The L4T format is one of classes and discussion periods focused for the young single Christian adult mixed with recreation activities and fellowship time.. Having access to the facilities of the beautiful Northwoods Christian Camp this year will provide an opportunity for the "best" L4T program to date. The program will be one day longer and remain at the same price as last year – $155 US. The fee will cover the cost of all lodging, food, and activities. Arrival date is the afternoon of Tuesday, July 12. with a get acquainted cookout scheduled for that evening. Departure date is Sunday morning, July 17. Applications may be requested by calling Lambert Greer at 502-228-5917 or by email at: [email protected]. Apply soon and plan ahead as airline tickets can be expensive if you wait too long.

Australasia Update

Mr. Bruce Tyler reports: I am still here in New Zealand and will spend the Sabbath with our Auckland brethren but will be returning home early this coming Sunday morning.  Mr Kinnear Penman and I have been kept busy visiting for the past week.  We've seen 12 new people in the past few of days, all either asking about baptism or eager to learn more about the Truth they've been learning. We're very encouraged to see the positive growth that's happening here. The Tomorrow's World program is really beginning to bear fruit. We also visited and/or counselled with a further nine of our members.

I received some encouraging news from Thailand this week. Mehm Pho Saw reports the following:

Today, this evening, six young new people, mostly 20 to 30 year old, come to join me and ask to let them study the Bible together (with me). Three of them have Buddhist background. The other three have Sunday worshipping background. I explained to everyone what you and H.Q. have reminded me according to the scripture of Romans 8:28, 1Peter 1:6-7, 1Peter 5:10, Romans 8:35-36 and our fervent prayers from all around the world and what our ministers are really doing. The situation is wonderfully pretty well. I deeply believe that the door in Thailand is more powerful.

Faithfully, Mehm.

We now have around 40 people meeting each Sabbath in Thailand. There is no telecast and the people have come as a result of the fine example of the few faithful members we originally started with a few years ago. Sabbath work is necessary and required in the area where these people live but they are convicted of the Truth, have stepped out in faith and obedience, trusting God in every way, in spite of the obstacles. We appreciate their loyalty and dedication to God's Work.

COMMENTS

Following are excerpts from a commentary by Mr. Richard Ames: Brookfield and the Critics

When tragedy hits a region, a nation, a school, or a church, we all tend to ask the natural question, "Why?" When a disaster produces death and injury, are we moved to act compassionately to help in practical and spiritual ways? [...]

Once we have given our hearts to help, the question may still linger, "Why?" In cases such as airplane crashes and industrial accidents, expert investigators examine evidence to determine the cause. Was it human error or failed machinery parts? […]

Religious people, familiar with Bible history, understand that God has used pagan nations to punish His own people for their disobedience, rebellion, and apostasy. Thus, some may be quick to judge, as in the case of the patriarch Job, that this so-called good person, or group of persons, must have done some evil to bring about such "punishment." In the case of the Brookfield tragedy, the police had a responsibility to determine the immediate cause. Some of the media quickly attempted to invent or find "sinister" practices of the Church. The police concluded that Church practices and sermons were not the cause, but that the killer himself was the cause.

Even so, some critics, within and without the Church of God, have tried to blame the Church. Church members have been quick to discern where the media have been in great error, misrepresenting the doctrines, practices and history of the Church, and getting many facts wrong in their rush to report quickly. Yet even some who wisely see the error of the media's rush to judgment have themselves rushed to judgment regarding the reason for the Brookfield tragedy. Some assume that the Brookfield tragedy is a specific sign that the Church is receiving correction for specific infractions, though the critics disagree among themselves as to what those infractions are.

One problem with most of these criticisms is their dogmatism and absolutism. Each critic is totally convinced that his or her identification of a specific cause is absolute. Such an approach is, to say the least, arrogant, and fails to understand the breadth and depth of God's approach to human suffering. There may be many reasons for a tragedy, all of which cannot be identified by any single person...

There are reasons for tragedy and suffering. And there is not just one axiom that states: "The only reason bad things happen to people is that they deserve it or their church deserves it." Yet that is the false premise employed by many critics.

Can those critics allow the possibility that bad things do happen to good people? Do they understand what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:11-12).

The faith chapter of the Bible reveals an amazing contrast between Christians who are blessed with great miracles and gifts, and Christians who suffer. Read very carefully Hebrews 11:32-40. Notice that both groups are faithful. God does not ascribe blame to those who suffered, and then commend those who were blessed with escape. What does He say? "And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us" (Hebrews 11:39-40).

Did God blame the Church, their families, or the community for the tragic deaths of the Hebrews 11 faithful? No, He did not. This should give pause to the absolutists, dogmatists, and self-appointed critics. They are warned not to practice one-upmanship with God!...

Those who are moved to criticize should first of all examine themselves! As Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Matthew 7:1-2). The Brookfield tragedy teaches us to have compassion and love toward our brethren. Local members have testified that not only have the brethren in the Church of God around the world shown mercy, love, and compassion, but so have local community and government officials. This event also encourages us to mourn, to examine ourselves, and to humble ourselves. Thus the Church will fast as a body on April 9, 2005. At the same time, Christ is opening new doors for the gospel to be preached. He is the judge, not self-appointed critics. He has corrected the Church and will correct the Church. He uses His faithful servants and saints to go forward in faith to do His Work and His will.—Richard F. Ames

May you have a restful and peaceful Sabbath,

Charles E. Bryce